M’CHIGEENG—Although sports enthusiast Dave Carr keeps a close eye on his day job, running his landscaping company C & C Lawn and Landscape, he has always found a way to apply his degree in physical education by coaching. Now he and his wife Anastasia have established the Manitoulin Basketball Association (MBA) to give local basketball players access to an avenue to upgrade their skills.
“The idea to start up basketball primarily came from our son Jackson who is now in Grade 9 at MSS (Manitoulin Secondary School),” said Mr. Carr. “I coached him for several years in the community league down in Burlington before we moved North. I graduated from Laurentian with a Physical Education degree and I’ve coached and played different sports over the years.”
Mr. Carr handles the coaching end of things while Ms. Carr looks after the organizational details. “It’s fun,” said Ms. Carr of her motivation. “Besides, this is a sport where as a parent you get to watch your child play in a nice warm gym. No standing around in a cold arena,” she laughed.
“For our inaugural season the MBA will consist of three age divisions,” explained Mr. Carr. “Atom (age 8-9), Peewee (age 10-11), and Bantam (age 13-14) and placement will be determined by a child’s age as of December 31, 2013. The age divisions and birthday cut-off mirror the CHA’s hockey divisions. We hope to expand to other age levels in the future.”
As to the schedule: “Everyone will play one day per week (Saturday mornings) at one location (Lakeview School),” said Mr. Carr. “Hopefully parents will find that pretty easy for scheduling and for driving since Lakeview is pretty centrally located on the Island.”
Each age division will play for one hour and we’ll work on skills and drills for half to two-thirds of the time and then split into two teams for a scrimmage for the remaining time. Kids will be mixed (boys and girls) and kids from different towns will be mixed together as well.”
The MBA is a pilot program which the couple hopes to see expand. “If the league takes off, which we hope it will, then future seasons may see different divisions for boys and girls, and perhaps another level up which would consist of two scheduled times per week (one practice and one game),” said Mr. Carr. “For now, we hope the kids will enjoy being able to get on the court on Manitoulin and make new friends while they learn the ‘FUNdamentals’ of basketball.”
There were forms available in the October 8 edition of The Expositor and forms have been distributed to all of the Island schools. Best to get your child registered as soon as possible, however. “The MBA starts play on November 8 and for our first season there is only a limited number of spots available and we hope to fill them all,” said Mr. Carr.
