BC Wheelchair Basketball Society 2011-12 Annual Report

Let’s Play: The Let’s Play program is intended to help kids with mobility limitations to become physically active early in life by helping to establish the fundamental skills, knowledge and abilities needed to confidently participate in play, sport and physical education with their peers. The program is directed at children in British Columbia 8 years of age and under with mobility related disabilities. This past season Marni Abbott-Peter took on the role of Let’s Play Coordinator and has been busy liaising with our community delivery partners, identified children and parents, hosting a Let’s Play Date in Abbotsford and visiting schools as a resource support for teachers. BCWBS also announced the launch of the Let’s Play official website and teacher’s resource. www.letsplaybc.ca is a central hub providing basic tools, services, and information on providing inclusive activity programs for kids with physical disabilities and mobility limitations and their peers. Our thanks to the CPC for supporting the Let’s Play Program through their Recruitment Program.

School and Participation Program: The BCWBS Schools and Community Participation Program is designed to educate students, teachers, and community groups about the sport of wheelchair basketball and about disability awareness. In 2011-12 BCWBS delivered the SPP to over 27 schools and community groups and over 3,500 participants. In addition to the Prince George Titans Club delivered their school program to over 4000 kids in Northern BC. Great work!

Wheelchair Loan Program: BCWBS continues to manage a wheelchair loan program for BCWBS members and clubs and continues to access funds for the purchase of additional sport wheelchairs. Currently there are approximately 125 wheelchairs managed by BCWBS, in addition to the 112 Let’s Play program wheelchairs. BCWBS was also able to expand our equipment program with the support of the CPC Equipment Fund this year.

Junior Programming: In addition to the regular junior focused weekly programming offered in Chilliwack, Surrey, Langley and Prince George, BCWBS was pleased to offer our annual summer basketball camp with Douglas College. Game days were also introduced this season thanks to Emily, Brad, Makiko & Mitch. A highlight of the season for some 25+ participants was the Centre of Performance Camp held at TWU with guest coach Steve Bialowas – thanks WBC!

2011 Junior Challenge: The Junior Challenge was held at Hugh McRoberts Secondary with six teams in the Junior 10ft Challenge and Performance divisions. Thank you again to Trish Nicholson from McRoberts Secondary School and her leadership class for hosting this event. We would also like to thank all the sponsors for their generous support: Panago Pizza, Save on Foods, Wheelchair Basketball Canada, Province of British Columbia, and the Rick Hansen Institute.

 

Mini-Basket Festival: Once again this year's Mini-Basket festival combined with the Steve Nash Youth Basketball Challenge hosted by Basketball BC at the Langley Event Centre.  15 BCWBS players joined the festival to play games with each other and one of the stand-up Steve Nash teams in a very success event. Some of the weekend highlights included basketball stars from TWU playing with our young up-and-coming athletes. The weekend is a great mixture of different theme games, skill sessions, and parents and athletes sharing the sport with other basketball enthusiasts.

 

Tim Frick City League: The highly successful city league continued this season with two nine week long sessions offered at Douglas College in partnership with Bridging the Gap and Douglas College.  The league saw 50 registrants with a remarkable 17 new participants and five new officials introduced to wheelchair basketball.  Special thanks to the Rotary Club of New Westminster for your support and Arley McNeney and Brian McLennon for your program leadership. 

 

Family and Friends Night: The Tim Frick Family and Friends Fun Night was a great success!! City league members once again had the chance to show off their skills and share their sport with friends and family trying the sport for the 1^st time. Thanks to coaches Arley, Brian and Joe for leading another great night!

All-comers Wheelchair Basketball Festival: The 2^nd annual All-Comers Wheelchair Basketball Festival was held with BTG and Douglas College last fall with 18 participants both new and experienced attending.  Thanks to Holly, Arley, AP and Nathan for contributing to another great event to introduce our sport.

 

Regional Programming: BCWBS was pleased to see regional programming in communities across BC including Prince George, Nanaimo, Comox, Powell River, Victoria, Chilliwack, Kelowna, Kamloops and throughout the Lower Mainland largely in New Westminster at Douglas College, Langley at Trinity Western and Surrey. Our thanks to the regional club representatives who work so hard to keep these programs thriving for participating in the regional planning sessions!

 

4th Annual Kelowna Jamboree: This over 40 athletes plus coaches attended from Vancouver, Kamloops, Kelowna, Calgary, and Spokane this past April! The jamboree was a great success with its focus on fun, camaraderie, and friendly competition. Special thanks to the Okanagan Thunder for continuing hosting this successful event especially Paul Clarke, Bryan Shore and Wendy Jansen for your hard work and leadership.

 

Northern Road Show: This spring, from mid-March to early May, Northern Program Coach Avril Harris and Program Coordinator Nancy Harris visited seven different cities in northern region. They have reached about 2900 students and facilitators through the tour!! Cities visited included McBride, Prince George, Ft. St. John, Quesnel, Williams Lake, 100 Mile House and Lac La hache.

 

Powell River Bounce Off:  Regional Coach Matt Buchi traveled to visit the Powell River Ravens for two fun –filled day of games and skill development activities in February.

 

Comox Skills Night and Have a Go and Hoopfest: When Club leader Karin Kratz sets her mind to it she can do anything – including organize 3 great events in a one month window! Coach Mattt Buchi was thrilled to contribute to the Comox Skill Development Night and Have a Go Day. In addition to their successful regular practices, Comox has hosted "Salish Sea Hoopfest" on March 18, inviting Powell River Ravens as well as Nanaimo Wheelchair Basketball Club. The event was a big success with 23 athletes participating plus some spectators cheering for them! Even a radio coverage was provided by 97.3 "The Eagle"!

BC-CWBL D1 & 2: The BC-CWBL D2 welcomed seven teams including the Tacoma Titans in their 1^st BC league outing. Four tournament were held in D2 including the BC championships. In an intense battle for the Division 2 title, the team from Victoria upheld their crown as D2 champs over the Tacoma Titans.  Two teams participated in the D1 BC-CWBL Season - the Douglas College Royals and the Douglas College Lions.  After a great season of play, where all games counted in the standings for the season, the Douglas College Royals took the top spot in Division 1.  BC Wheelchair Basketball is very appreciative of the support from the Province of BC - Hosting BC program, Douglas College, Sheraton Vancouver Guildford, Panago Pizza, Advanced Mobility, Tim Hortons and tournament hosts the Kamloops Bull-dawgs & Okanagan Thunder for their contribution to another great season.

 

BC-CWBL Division 1 Champion Team: Douglas College Royals; Division 2 Champion Team: Victoria

 

West Coast Classic: On September 9th thru 11th, five of Canada’s best teams (Men's National Team, Men's Jr National Team, Team Quebec, and two teams from BC) and many of Canada’s top players were able to showcase their talents at the Richmond Olympic Oval for the 2011 West Coast Classic.

 

2012 CWBL Open Finals: BCWBS once again supported a D1 team to attend the CWBL Finals in PEI. After a tough tournament which began with illness and reduced squad the Douglas College Royals placed 7^th. Matt Gee from the Royals was named to the all-star team. 

 

BC Junior Provincial Team: This year’s BC Provincial Junior team participated in D2 of the BC-CWBL and also travelled to the Junior Regional Tournament in Regina, Saskatchewan on March 24-25. The team finished 3^rd against Saskatchewan and Alberta and are excited to continue their development next season.

 

High Performance Camps / RTCs: BCWBS was pleased to partner with Wheelchair Basketball Canada in presenting two High Performance / RTC Camps in October 2011, January 2012. In addition, weekly RTC sessions were held at the Richmond Olympic Oval for targeted athletes. A shooting camp was also introduced this season at Douglas College.

 

BeSquad Program: Under the leadership of Coach Joe Higgins the BeSquad focused on targeted athlete and coach development through participation in the Tacoma Invitational, Seattle Sonics Tournament, Las Vegas Tournament, and the BeSquad Invitational. 

 

BCWBS was thrilled to host the 2012 National Championships for men and women. The 2012 National Championships celebrated the theme of “Difference Makers” in honour of Rick Hansen and the 25th anniversary of the Man in Motion World Tour. With the tournament’s most outstanding offensive players at the helm the BC Breakers propelled themselves to a 77-56 win over the Calgary Rollers in the women’s gold medal final of the 2012 National Championships; while Ontario claimed first place in the men’s final with a golden 76-52 win over the BC provincial team at the Richmond Olympic Oval. Bo Hedges and Erik HAgreen were named to the all-star team and Janet McLachlan of BC was named tournament MVP.

Our Women’s team the BC Breakers participated in D2 of the BC-CWBL, travelled to Seattle, attended the Calgary Rollers tournament and also participated in the BeSquad Invitational in preparation for nationals. In addition to the weekly practices the men’s team hosted a March Madness tournament with some of the national team players, travelled to Defi Sportif and players also took part in the BeSquad Invitational. Thank you to coaches Joe Higgins, Scott Allen, Matt Buchi, Marni Abbott-Peter, Arley McNeney and Trish Nicholson for your hard work with this program.

Officials Program: This season BCWBS continued to focus on official’s recruitment and education with clinics presented at the BWBS events such as All-comers Festival and BC-CWBL Finals. The WBC Officials Evaluator Form was also used to evaluate officials at the BC-CWBL Finals. Thank you to Dean MacKinnon for his continued efforts in educating new officials for our programming. 

 

Provincial and Regional Coach Positions - Integrated Performance System: The Integrated Performance System, which is a vertically integrated system of paid coaches and program support at the regional, provincial and national team level, continued in BC this past season. Through this program BCWBS supported Joe Higgins as Provincial Coach and welcomed Matt Buchi as the Regional and High Performance Development Coach. These coaches benefited from a series of professional development opportunities and engaged in coaching and development initiatives with BCWBS.

 

Classification Clinic and Seating Information Session: In conjunction with the BC-CWBL Finals,BCWBS was pleased to host classification and seating assessment education sessions over the course the weekend.   Thank you to Anne LaChance for your fantastic leadership and insight in delivering these clinics.

 

·         The Province of BC – BCWBS gratefully acknowledges the support of the Province of BC for Hosting BC grants, Direct Access Gaming, and funding through the Ministry of Community, Sport, and Cultural Development.

·         BC Wheelchair Sports Association – BCWBS is a member of BCWSA and receives many services including financial grant support, access to the provincial Athlete Assistance Program, the Bridging the Gap Program, and more.

·         Wheelchair Basketball Canada – with your support of many special projects and the RTC/CP programs.

·         Douglas College – continues to provide incredible support to wheelchair basketball in their Athletic and Centre for Campus Life program with access to practice facilities, hosting of tournaments and camps and so much more.

·         Canadian Sport Centre Pacific – wheelchair basketball continued as a targeted sport partner of CSC-Pacific through the Integrated Performance System and sport services for our targeted athletes.

·         Rick Hansen Foundation & Rick Hansen Institute – For the support of the Let’s Play Program, the 2012 National Championships, and BCWBS supported projects through the BC SCI Community Services Network.

·         BC Spinal Cord Injury Community Services Network - The BC SCI Community Services Network is comprised of BCWBS, BC Wheelchair Sports Association, Spinal Cord Injury BC, Disability Foundation and the Neil Squire Society. Together the BC Spinal Cord Injury Community Services Network was pleased to celebrate Rick Hansen’s return to British Columbia at a GF Strong event and also supported a joint staff information retreat among other initiatives.

·         Basketball BC – BCWBS is a liaison member of the Basketball BC Board of Directors. Basketball BC is a great supporter of our sport as we work on joint program initiatives such as the Steve Nash Youth Festival and others.

·         Individual Donors– BCWBS engages in a donations program to support our programs and activities through Engage Interactive. We are very thankful for the continued support of the many individuals and organizations that have supported BC Wheelchair Basketball this past season through their generous donations.

·         Hoopfest 2012 Supporters:   The Burnaby Fire Fighters defended their title at the 19th Annual Hoopfest Fundraiser which raised $8,155 for BCWBS.  There were 8 teams competing in this year’s Hoopfest with teams from Burnaby Fire, ICORD, The Rick Hansen Foundation, Surrey Fire, Vancouver Fire, Vancouver Police Department, WestJet and the BCWBS Friends and Family.  Our thanks to the teams and the many groups who donated prizes for the event.

·         WestJet - Thank you for to WestJet who donated two return tickets to any WestJet destination for our annual fundraising event Hoopfest. Lisa Nasu was the winner of the draw which raised $2,190!

·         Redwoods Golf Course – Almost 30 participants from the wheelchair basketball community came out to try their hand at the sport of golf on September 12, 2011 at Redwoods Golf Course in Langley in support of BCWBS.  Our thanks as well to Joe Higgins for organizing such as great event!

·         NBA Jam – BCWBS athletes took the crowd by storm with a captivating showcase as part of the fun-filled festivities at NBA Jam Session August 20-21, 2011 at Queen Elizabeth Theatre Plaza in Vancouver, BC.

·         Panago Pizza – is the official pizza of BCWBS providing pizza and prizing for many of our programs and events.

2011-12 BCWBS Board of Directors:

President: Lindsay Chan                                               
Vice-President: Chris Samis                        
Treasurer: Aaron Wilson              
Secretary: Ross MacDonald                        
Director at Large: Robert Hedges             
Director at Large: Jacynthe Simard