The Sundre High School senior boys’ basketball squad recently qualified to compete in upcoming zones.
The Scorpions, who play in the Mountain View County Basketball League — along with teams from Crossfield, Didsbury, Olds High School as well as Olds Koinonia Christian School — was as of about a week ago at five wins and six losses, including tournament play, said coach Joris van den Hadelkamp.
The home team recently defeated Crossfield 51-40 and qualified for zones which will be held March 8-9 at Holy Cross Collegiate in Strathmore, he said.
The Scorpions played on home turf last Wednesday against the Olds Spartans, who won 65-53. The home team's last regular game of the season is on Feb. 25 against Didsbury at the Sundre High School.
“This is my first year coaching in Sundre and one of my goals was to help the team bond so we could be successful on and off the floor,” he said.
“To my surprise, the majority of the team put down ‘have fun and bond with the guys’ as one of their goals for the season on the surveys I handed out at the first practice.”
The coach said he was pleasantly surprised as well as impressed by how quickly the team has fused as a cohesive unit that gets along well both on and off the court.
“My practices are mainly focused around letting them play and make decisions in drills — they’ve taken that ideal and ran with it. The practices are very competitive and productive,” he said.
“We have gotten exponentially better since November and our goal as a team is to win at least two games at zones. There is a lot of potential in this group and with only three seniors on the team, we’ll be a competitive team for a few years down the road as well.”
