Basketball
is definitely alive and well in Valley East. The popularity of the
Toronto Raptors has resulted in a boom of sorts in the sport locally.
The Valley East Minor Basketball League is flourishing with boys and
girls enjoying friendly competition every week at local high schools.
One
of the benefits of the development of basketball programs at the
elementary school level and in the organized league is that Junior High
School Basketball is becoming much stronger as players enter secondary
schools with an advanced skill level. This year, the Confederation
Secondary School Junior Chargers were proof positive of that
development.
The
Chargers were coached by Diane Houle, whose volunteered leadership
guided the team right to the very last game when they were edged out by
the Lively Hawks in a contest to decide who would represent the region
in the Northern Ontario Secondary School Association championships.
Even
during the final game the Chargers refused to back off, leading 29 to 27
at half time before succumbing to a 48 to 40 loss to Lively.
During
the season the Chargers played against Lively, Champlain, Heritage,
McDonald Cartier, LoEllen, St. Benedict and Levac.
Congratulations
go out to the members of the Junior Chargers: Adrian McAuley, Dan
Meunier, Joshua Slack, Brad Pike, Pat Pelland, Jamie Clarke, Mat Houle,
Kevin Duhamel, Sheldon Ellsworth, Andrew Williams, Kyle Vaillancourt and
Chris Roy.