The Olds High School JV boys' basketball team will look a lot different when next season rolls around this fall.
“We’ll lose some of our stronger JV players. Almost the entire team will move up and we’ll get a fresh group of Grade 9s for next year,” head coach Taylor Grenier says.
“I feel really good about sending a lot of these boys on to the senior team because I feel like we’ve given them a solid foundation of both skill and systems that’ll translate well for them hopefully next year if they choose to continue playing basketball.”
The team ended its season on a high note during the weekend of March 9 by winning bronze during the zones, held in Airdrie. They beat Springbank 65-59, lost to Cochrane (the top ranked team) 75-28, then defeated Brooks 68-59 in the bronze medal game.
Grenier and team captain Marshall Bloomfield say OHS had a good season; they just came up against some very talented teams.
Bloomfield was especially impressed with the Cochrane team.
“The ball never touched the floor; they just passed it till they got open. They were good shooters, they had most of the shots,” he said. “We weren’t used to playing against teams that could move the ball that fast and played defence that well against us. So we turned the ball over a lot; didn’t get out on the shots when they were shooting and stuff.”
Grenier said it was an opportunity for growth.
“We played a lot of teams where these boys play basketball year-round. And through a strong team game, we were able to beat a lot of those good teams, which is good for us,” he said.
“Offence and defence were solid. On offence, we’ve really grown into a team where we don’t rely on one player. We’re getting significant contributions from everyone across the board, whether that be players on the bench, whether that be timely scoring from a lot of different players,” Grenier added. “Our scoring was really spread out and we had a really strong, just all-around balanced offence.”
Grenier said the OHS JV boys were not as tall or fast as some other teams they played this year. However, the coaching staff came out with a solution to that.
“We try to focus on defence first because if the other team’s scoring 40 points, you have to score 46. But if they don’t score many, then we don’t have to score as much either,” Grenier said.
“We had a good group of talented kids who just really took on board a lot of what we were trying to say in terms of our system and just working strong together as a team. It’s not about the individual; we really tried to emphasize the team this year.
“We’re not the tallest team out there and we’re not the fastest team either. So the boys really had to outwork a lot of the different teams that we came up against and we tried to preach them since Day 1 that, you know what? We’re not going to be the most skilled team out there, but how you beat those teams is by working harder than they do -- every play, every second of every game,” he added.
“You’ve got to outwork those teams and you’ve got to be running the floor and you’ve got to be the first back on defence, you’ve got to be getting those rebounds; all kinds of different things that are going to help us be a successful team, because out of the gate, we’re going to be outmatched a little bit.”
Bloomfield, 16, also plays lacrosse. He plans to play on the senior boys' basketball team next season. Bloomfield said he made that team this year, but decided to play on the JV team to get more playing time and that paid off.
“It made me a stronger player and got me in better shape for lacrosse, I guess,” he said.
