| Wendy Ladner-Beaudry |
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Lord Kelvin Cougars Steve
Nash Basketball Jamboree March 2009
It was a dark, cold Friday night in early March and the elementary school in New Westminster was uncharacteristically, humming with activity for 7 pm. Families unloaded from cars in the parking lot while others walked, coming from all directions. There were East Indian women in saris, Asian grandparents following excited grandchildren, and Eastern European parents chatting amongst each other as their children led them into the gym. There was excitement in the air that was more palpable the closer one was to the gym entrance. You could already hear the basketballs bouncing inside and see the kids carrying their grocery bags bulging with their own cherished ball.
Tonight was the Jamboree and the novice Lord Kelvin Cougars, were hosting the more experienced Morley team from the neighbouring district of Burnaby. It was the first time the Cougars had tested their newly acquired basketball skills against another group. The two coaches of the Balloholics Steve Nash Youth Basketball program stood speaking to some parents and directing the players to the area where their team was warming up. All the players proudly wore their oversized Steve Nash reversible jerseys making it difficult to define the groups, as they all looked the same. The whistle blew, and the kids came together and reversed their jerseys, white for the Cougars and the red side for the Morley team. They re-grouped on either side of the gym, then half the Morley team switched places with half of Lord Kelvin team and they began to play - two cross court games played simultaneously, lots of action, and lots of passing with frequent substitutions. Parents, grandparents, siblings and even neighbours, found seats in any available spot where they could watch – on the benches around the edges of the gym, on the small stage at one end and even in the hallway at the door.
Elena was sitting in the spot she had found in the hallway, with her neighbour’s daughter at her side. They were patiently waiting for her neighbour to arrive to watch the Jamboree with her while Elena’s husband worked the night shift. Elena’s family had emigrated from Russia, by way of Germany arriving in New Westminster in 2007. Her son was in grade 4 at Lord Kelvin and was “crazy for basketball”. Self-conscious about her English at first she soon opened up to share her concerns for her son and how grateful she was for this sport experience at his school. “He likes to do sports at school, because he is playing with kids he knows from his class and the neighbourhood, he is playing with friends! Last year he was too young to be on a school team, and this makes him feel closer to the kids because as immigrants we didn’t know anyone. When he was told about this SNYB at school he brought home the form and we filled it out quickly, be he was still second on the waiting list. Basketball is good because it isn’t as dangerous as soccer and hockey, and he is closer to his schoolmates now because playing together [in this program] is different from studying with friends [in class]. They get to know each other in a different way.”
It’s not just her son who feels having the program at the school is beneficial. Elena tried to enrol him in a basketball program at Douglas College, but it was for boys aged 9-15 and the age span was too big with no time to get to know each other. He didn’t like it and they didn’t continue because transportation was also a factor. Although they have access to a car, Elena’s husband who does shift work, is the only one who can drive so it’s complicated. She doesn’t have time to take the bus to programs farther from home, so this program works for them. They can walk to the school and because it’s on a Friday at 7 pm, they can have dinner and don’t have to worry about completing homework or getting up for school the next day. She can watch or walk to the mall and look around during the sessions, which are 75 minutes long. It has given her a chance to meet other people in her community, and share the experience with her neighbours who are also immigrants, from Slovakia. Through the program she has met other class parents and had the opportunity to talk to them outside of school, something she found difficult before because of language and cultural barriers. Elena feels a common link with them now and more a part of the school community.
The Balloholics basketball program has been a “blessing” for them, because there was no cost. She is taking ESL courses, but has found it difficult to get work so they only have one salary. She wants something for her son to do, “because especially boys need sports, they have so much energy, they need something to do. My friends need something for their boys too.” She went to Fraserside Community Services and got a 50% subsidy for swimming lessons to break the monotony of winter, “but it wasn’t very good. He didn’t like it, there were too many kids in the pool, the instructor didn’t have enough time for each student, the sessions were too short, and it was difficult for me to get him there. It was a waste of money. Everything is too expensive”.
“In Russia, everything is free and there was always something to do, but here why does everything in Canada cost so much? In Russia we had lots of physical education at school. I played volleyball and my husband played everything, volleyball, soccer, hockey and we had cross-country skiing all winter. I don’t like to ask for subsidies, so now we go to the park as a family, but only in the summer. We want to play basketball, but there are always older boys playing at Moody Park and it isn’t safe for my son so we have a picnic and play badminton. In the winter we go tobogganing in the park or go to a family swim. This is the best value because after you pay for transportation and your food for a picnic, it costs so much money to do other sports as a family”.
“We lived in Germany for 5 years where all the communities have soccer clubs for free, even at work there are teams. We only paid for the uniform and shoes when they outgrew them. This is the experience of other immigrants like my friend and neighbour in the building. She is from Slovakia, and did canoe and kayak. In Canada, we see on the TV that we should be healthy in our lifestyle and food we choose, but how can we be active if sport is so expensive and we can’t pay!”
The whistle blows in the gym and streams of kids race for the water fountain. Her son, red-faced and sweating stops by, smiles and goes back to listen to the coach as the last session of this basketball program comes to a close. The Lord Kelvin kids pepper the coach with questions about the next session only to find it will be in the fall, but they clutch the KidSport subsidy forms tightly in one hand and their parents’ hand in the other as they walk out into the cold night air. They have learned about teamwork, they have learned basketball skills and most of all they have learned how much fun it is to play with boys and girls at their school. When asked, they all want to play again!
The
Balloholics Steve Nash Youth Basketball program at Lord Kelvin was funded
through the KidSport Canada pilot project and KidSport BC. Twenty
(20) children were selected to participate after being identified through
Fraserside Community Services and the Lord Kelvin Community School Coordinator.
The three month program involved 4 girls and 16 boys in grades 4 and 5, and
took place of Friday evenings at 7 pm between the first week of January and the
first week of March. The school provided the gym and hosted two different Jamborees with Morley school over the
course of the program during the weekly sessions. The children were introduced
to the game of basketball learning FUNdamental basketball skills as identified
in the Canadian Sport for Life framework. As a part of the program they also
received their own Steve Nash Youth Basketball jersey and a basketball. In addition to fundamental movement skills
and basketball specific skills, the children were encouraged and coached on
respectful behaviour in the game and in life through the Bolloholics program. Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites         |