South Hill Royal Falcons - The More The Merrier
Photos and Story by Robert Thomas
Walking into the practice of the South Hill Royal Falcons senior boys basketball team is one of numbers.
Unlike other senior basketball teams in the Moose Jaw City league the numbers are huge with 20 players out on the court.
“Basically I say every year who wants to play basketball (from grades nine to grade twelve boys) and get them in the gym,” Royal Falcons head coach Kalen Senecal said.
Trying to dribble around a defender
“We’ve got 12, which are our better guys to play in the senior (boys) league and eight or nine others come out and practice with us, and we’ll get them some exhibition games throughout the year,” he said.
The hope is the grade nines and tens will not just compete in exhibition games but also come out and cheer the senior team on.
The senior boys team will see 12 to 14 players dress for games.
But the player numbers attending practice isn’t the big story.
The big story is, after missing the deadline last season, the Royal Falcons have moved from Junior Varsity (JV) to senior boys this season.
Breaking through the defenders
The Royal Falcons move from being a favourite to capture the city league JV crown to hoping to be competitive in the city senior boys league.
A move copied by the Notre Dame Hounds out in Wilcox. The Royal Falcons kick off their season against the Hounds on Tuesday evening.
For the Royal Falcons there is a practical reason for the move as the 3A school now moves into tough competition against 4A and 5A teams.
“We’re excited. I think we’re ready. We went to Hoopla (the provincial basketball championship tournament) last year so we should be playing against the best teams we can.”
“We’re hoping to go to Hoopla this year and so we should be playing against the best competition we can,” he said.
Drew Biette is one player the Royal Falcons are hoping to rely on this season
Although the Royal Falcons have for years played in the city’s JV league in provincial playoffs they play in the 3A senior boys class.
The Royal Falcons will be entering the senior boys league with ten out of 12 players from last year returning. The remainder of the senior boys roster (two to four players) will come from the practice roster.
“We’re really happy with how everything is looking. Obviously there will be bumps along the way but we are hoping to be competitive in the senior league and see how things go,” Senecal said.
Practicing throwing the ball back into play
Senecal disagrees that having 20 players attend practice makes it harder to coach effectively.
“I would say when you have more players in the gym it gives you a chance to develop more players,” he said.
“I don’t think there’s a down side to have that many players in the gym. Other coaches would say differently but I like to see as many players playing basketball as possible.”
Allowing the grade nines and ten players to come out and practice with the senior boys team helps to develop the future of the Royal Falcons future and program.
The Royal Falcons are a team made up of players from Riverview Collegiate and Cornerstone Christian School.
Royal Falcons head coach Kalen Senecal gives instructions to the team
“I’m very happy we are going to be able to build a strong program in the future seeing a large crop of grade nines coming through,” he said.
There are eight grade nines practicing in practice.
“I’ve been coaching this group of grade twelves since grade nine and we sort of have another crop making their way up the ladder,” Senecal said.
There are high hopes for the team as they enter the senior boys league.
Asked where the Royal Falcons would like to place in the league Senecal would not say but rather the main goal was to be competitive.
“We want to be competitive in every game and every quarter. That means we are hoping to play every team tight and see how it turns out.”
Reaching for a loose ball
The Royal Falcons provincially will be playing in the 3A league whereas other teams such as Vanier and Central play 4A and Peacock and Swift Current play 5A.
The level a team plays in, or A ranking system, is based upon a school’s student body size. The system allows similar sized schools to face each other taking into account the size of student body players can be drawn from.
Despite facing 4A and 5A competitors Senecal said it should make for a better Royal Falcons team in the long run and hopefully a very strong 3A provincial championship run.
“It’s appropriate for us to play stronger teams. We might take our lumps at the start of the year. But you can’t get better unless you are playing the stronger teams out there.”
“It will be a nice change for us,” he said.
Getting set to break in
“It will be nice to play those Vanier, Central and Peacock’s well developed programs this year.”
The move also cuts down on the travel time for the team as in JV there was more traveling.
“It’s easier to come ten minutes across the city.”
There will be one longer trip to Swift Current but gone this season are the trips to Gravelbourg, Caronport and Assiniboia the Royal Falcons made as part of the JV league.
Senecal said he is hopeful by playing more games in Moose Jaw it will also help to bring more fans out to what are visiting games.
“It will be nice to have less travelling,” he said.
Going for the basket
He predicted the Royal Falcons will continue their high intensity play they were known for in JV. Their high flying style and using the sidelines to the maximum earned the team the nickname “The Flying Circus.”
It’s a key part of their game they are hoping will see the Royal Falcons play strong in the city league and follow it up with a successful provincial title run.
Senecal wanted to highlight key players for the team.
“Drew Biette who was our point guard last year we’re hoping a lot from. Cooper Gregor and Wyatt Craik are going to be two a strong presence inside we are looking forward to. We’ll have a lot of role players like Luke Kaminski, Tanner Behrens playing really strong defence for us so we’re looking forward to it,” he said.
“They’ve got good chemistry. They’ve been playing together for a long time and they’re good kids.”
