The Okotoks Rockies climbed the summit to a record season of success.
Seven teams from the Okotoks Basketball Association qualified for the provincial championships with five of them earning podium finishes highlighted by gold medal performances at the U18 and U11 levels.
“As long as I’ve been involved, that’s the most we’ve had go in any season,” said OBA president Blake Husky. “It’s really fantastic for everyone involved to have seven teams represented across all age divisions.”
The U18 division proved to be a prolific one for the Rockies.
Okotoks struck gold in the U18 boys division 1 and fielded two teams in the U18 girls, which is a three-on-three format, with the teams finishing third and fourth, respectively.
“(The U18 boys) worked hard through the winter season,” Husky said. “And found some success there and a number of players have been in our program for a few years at this point and will graduate or are graduating of the program now.
“There are some players that despite not making their high school teams still play at a high level and push themselves for that success and found it. And I think the same can be said for our girls in that U18 division. There’s a lot of talented girls that put in a lot of work.”
Okotoks was golden in the U11 boys Division 4 competition.
The Rockies U15 boys won provincial bronze in division 2 as well as its U11 girls squad in division 2, with its U13 boys finishing fourth in division 1.
“It’s just a testament to the athletes we have,” Husky added. “And the fantastic coaches that we have involved in our program, volunteer coaches that give tremendous time and energy to help these young athletes become better basketball players and help them reach those goals.”
Basketball continues to grow in the community. The OBA had just over 300 athletes registered for its spring season.
“We had seven teams go to provincials, which is fantastic and is a tremendous achievement for those teams,” Husky said. “But we’ve got another 20 teams that had fantastic seasons in their own right.
“And those kids as they get older will find themselves heading to provincials the next season or the season after as they continue to push and develop.”
The level of the game once the players reach the high school ranks has also grown in leaps and bounds, with both the Foothills Falcons and Holy Trinity Academy Knights making huge strides in recent seasons.
Minor basketball has consistently been pointed to as a reason for those improvements by high school coaches.
“It’s a testament to the strength of basketball in this town that we’ve got kids that from early on have goals in mind already,” Husky said. “For us, being able to support that and provide some avenues to get to those levels that they want to reach is a goal that we have and helping these kids just become good athletes, good basketball players and good people in the community.
“That’s a big point of pride for us.”
For more information, go to okotoksbasketball.ca.
