Provincial Champions

Rarely in the world of sport does the journey taken by a team result in the ultimate achievement in their discipline. 2016, however, was just such an occasion for the Brentwood Junior Boys Basketball team. Their collective work ethic, perseverance, diligence, and togetherness rewarded them with an experience that they will remember for a lifetime: Brentwood College’s first ever Provincial Championship in basketball.

The team played in five tournaments during the year and won them all. They were Champions of the Victoria Tip-Off Tournament, of the first ever ISA Championship for Junior Boys, of the Brentwood Challenge, of the Junior Island Basketball Championships and then the BC Provincial Championship. 

This team had five returning players from last year’s provincial qualifiers, a team that put in place the foundation for this year’s successes. This team also depended on each other to improve during practice sessions and to put in the extra time outside of structured practices to improve their skills throughout the year. These positive attitudes not only resulted in the success of the team but individual excellence as well: Casper P was MVP of the Provincial Gold medal game, while Bruno C was named Defensive Player of the tournament and a First Team All Star and Brendan S MVP of the Provincial Tournament.

In my 20 years of coaching I have never been a part of a team that handled adversity with the same level of focus and determination; this characteristic more than any other is the trait to which I attribute our success. The next challenge for this group is to continue to improve, physically and emotionally, to handle the inevitable challenges of playing senior basketball next year.

My heartfelt gratitude goes out to my assistant coach Mr. Kulai, and to the boys who bought into our philosophy of hard work and team-oriented basketball.

Coach Sullivan