The Elphinstone Secondary School boys' basketball team experienced a once in a lifetime opportunity on Friday Sept. 5 courtesy of the University of British Columbia (UBC).
The UBC men's varsity basketball team and coaching staff made their eighth annual retreat to the Sunshine Coast and offered a skills clinic for the youths."This is a chance of a lifetime on an amazing basketball court surrounded by 250-year-old firs," said Kevin Hanson, UBC's head coach.
The court is the creation of local resident David Nelson, a UBC alumnus who played basketball there from 1961 to '64.
"There are 12 layers of latex rubber that go down six feet with a two per cent grade to keep it dry," Nelson explained. "There are tennis courts too so I wanted a net that would swing and was told it couldn't be done."
Not willing to take no for an answer, Nelson went to two local contractors, Lloyd Engineering and John Enevoldson Engineering, who were able to construct the court with all of the amenities Nelson dreamed for it. Built in 1996, Nelson said the court sees a lot of action as he hosts a men's league of players who have been getting together for 39 years.
UBC coaches and Elphinstone players practiced drills on the court for an hour followed by scrimmages made up of mixed UBC and high school players."You couldn't put a price tag on this," Hanson said. Bob Hoy, owner of Gibsons Marketplace IGA and Elphi coach went to high school with Hanson and helped organize the clinic. He said this is a dream come true for the boys and all of the organizers look forward to offering a similar clinic to Chatelech's boy's team next year as well. Student Brian Jones was all smiles following the clinic.
"This is the best basketball experience that I've had," he said.
His teammate Jon Garmulewicz said he learned a lot from the UBC team and coaches. "They play hard and work hard and we were given lots of good skills."
After the high school team headed back to classes, the UBC team mixed it up with alumni and friends on the court in three on three matches for the afternoon.
