Central Cyclones Senior Boys Working Hard For Perfection
Photos and Story by Robert Thomas
“I have a few minutes now,” Central Cyclones senior boys head coach Barry Seaborn said on Wednesday evening.
Seaborn had already ran the Cyclones to a perspiring mess running lengths of Riverview Collegiate gym and then three minutes of rapid fire layups. The practice so far had been running just over ten minutes.
As the Cyclones played a five aside scrimmage you could hear the squeaking of running shoes on the gym floor as Seaborn talked about the Cyclones 2024/2025 edition.
Going in for a layup
The squeaking shoes on the gym floor was not lost to Seaborn. There was no communication between the players something he told his players after the interview.
“All I heard was squeak, squeak and squeak when I was talking to Robert you need to always be talking and communicating with one another,” the multi-tasking coach told the team.
And such is the foundation of the 2024/2025 Cyclones team. It is a team that is being coached about the smallest of details which help create openings or gaps to exploit.
This year’s team is not crowded with seniors but is a combination of power to win this year but one that also helps the program.
Trying to evade the defence
The Cyclones will have a base of six returning grade twelve players, two grade elevens and four grade tens.
“It’s going to be a little bit different this year,” Seaborn said.
“I would have liked to have some more grade tens come up and play,” he said, adding “it’s better for the program if the grade tens come up and play because then you develop them for next year. And then they have some expectations about what senior basketball looks like next year instead of playing another year of junior.”
For the grade twelves the team is a nice ride as they have plenty of experience.
Waiting to pivot on breaking out
“I’m happy to have the six grade twelves for sure but it would have been nice to have a mix.”
He typified the team still as a great mix of new and old.
The grade twelve returners are Ben Ansell, Chase Seaborn, Eli Juan, Gerritt Gulutzan, Lei Delizo and Max Simmons,
The team also consists of two junior players that were called up at the end of the last year - Keaton Belsher and Suliman Suliman.
The newcomers to the Cyclones are Hunter Scott, Javaughn Lynch, Karver Gusa and Vann Givera.
Seaborn - who is always cautious (some say sandbagging) about his team’s prospects - said “I think we’ll have a really good team.
Head coach Barry Seaborn demonstrates to a player to keep his arms out while on defence
“We’ve got heavy veterans. Six really, really good returning players so that is always great.”
Seaborn said after two weeks of practice “I’m looking forward to playing games. We’ve been practicing for two weeks now and they are beating each other up and so I want to play another team and beat them up a little bit.”
The other thing Seaborn looks forward to “is playing a whole provincial tournament will be nice.”
He said referencing last year when the labour dispute between the Province and the Saskatchewan Federation of Teachers cut the three day Hoopla provincial championship tournament to a single day - or a single game.
“I mean the season ended the way I hoped it would end. We won the provincial championship but it would have been nice to play two games. Because it just would have been better to play two games.”
Jumping for a loose ball
Comparing the this year’s Cyclones to last year’s 4A provincial champions is one of player anticipation.
“I think last year there was basketball IQ with the whole team last year. Because a lot of the kids I worked with (for many years). This year there are four kids I never worked with. It’s going to take an adjustment period for them.”
Meshing a diverse team together is “going to take a little more time. So I think at the beginning our strong veterans presence will be good because I’ve coached these kids since they’ve been in grade two a lot of them.”
“It will take some time.”
A large portion of the practice on Wednesday evening was devoted to positioning the defence and offence to help open gaps to exploit.
He described the Cyclones work ethic as “fantastic.”
Breaking in
“They work hard but they know coming into the season if they don’t work hard I drive it into them.”
Seaborn is known for having a great dislike for laziness in his players.
“No, nope no lazy people. If they don’t play defence they don’t play for me,” Seaborn said.
A player may be more talented than another player but if they don’t give it 100 percent a less talented player that goes hard and plays at 100 percent will get the playing time.
Seaborn’s practices are intense and fast paced they aren’t a refuge to not play hard.
A good portion of Wednesday evening’s practice focused upon learning where to be on the court but above all don’t be static.
“It’s funny some of the kids if they ever ran that much in a season and they say no. We had one practice there and they are just out of breath and tongue wagging. But it’s good for them.”
Missing a pass
Asked if two weeks was enough practice given the system and necessary learning Seaborn said it was.
“I want to play a game. Because after a game you have a list of things to work on. Because when you are practicing against each other it is tough to get a list of what to work on,” he said.
“Now you play against some different competition and you say we need to work on this, this and this.
The Cyclones get their first game experience this weekend in Prince Albert where they will be competing in a Carleton Collegiate tournament.
The tournament will consist of 4A and 5A teams plus a couple of provincially top ranked teams.
Sit down time is where the team gets instruction
“We look forward to maybe making some adjustments to the top 10.”
At the present time the Cyclones are ranked 10th in the province.
This may also be the last year Central will be a 4A school under Saskatchewan High School Athletics Association rules.
Schools are listed from 1A to 5A depending on enrolment. Central Collegiate’s enrolment is just under 5A numbers.
The size of the student body is used as larger schools have a larger student base to draw players from usually making them a stronger team.
Two years ago Peacock Collegiate was a 5A school due to enrolment and last year they were 4A. For the 2024/2025 school year Peacock will move back to 5A that is inhabited by much bigger schools with powerhouse teams.
Playing close to the backboard
“5A is a different beast. It’s the biggest schools in Saskatchewan and it’s the Holy Crosses, the Walter Murray’s.”
Asked about drawing fans to the games Seaborn is optimistic proper promotion will help to boost fans in the stands all season.
Typically fan numbers increase as the season gets closer to or enters the playoffs.
“It sure would be nice if we could get more fans.”
