Basketball in Nova Scotia in the Past 30 Years
Basketball was first introduced to Nova Scotia as early as 1895 but in the past thirty years the popularity of the sport has really taken off. The high concentration of universities in the province, the tradition and esteem of the high school programs, and the continued support from a large and knowledgeable basketball community have made the game a staple of Nova Scotia life, culminating with the capital city of Halifax becoming known as the basketball capital of Canada. When you talk about basketball in the Maritimes you can break it down into different levels of competition. There are the club systems throughout the province, the regional and provincial teams, then high school basketball, then you have to look at intercollegiate basketball, and finally pro basketball that was here for a short period of time. Another way of looking at how the sport has come along in the past thirty years is by focusing on the people who have been an integral part in its development. People such as Bob Douglas, Mickey Fox, Ritchie Spears, Brian Heaney, Steve Konchalski, and Bill Robinson, who through different roles have made and continue to make an impact on basketball in this province. Others who will not be discussed as much but whose ro
The strength of the AUAA in the seventies was not carried through to the 80’s, as the University of Victoria were the undisputed champions of university basketball in Canada from 1980-1986 followed by three consecutive wins by the Brandon Bobcats. The talent pool in maritime university basketball seemed to be at least temporarily dried up. With the western schools having a lock on university basketball many critics questioned the amount of talent in Nova Scotia saying that the wins by Acadia and St. Mary’s in the 70’s were largely due to the fact that a lot of the star players were not home grown products. This placed a lot of pressure on the 1987 Canada Games team to show once and for all that Nova Scotia was rich in basketball talent. Bev Greenlaw was chosen as the head coach with Mark Parker assisting and the NS team featured Augie Jones and Wade Smith who were St. FX stars at the time, along with three front line players from Acadia University. The team gained important victories over Manitoba and Ontario in the preliminary round. Since the games were held in Nova Scotia there was a lot of support as 1200 people packed the gym at Breton Educational Centre to watch as Nova Scotia dominated the Quebec team in the final on their way to a 91-76 victory. The victory was a defining moment for the development of the game in Nova Scotia because we were able to prove to the rest of the country that our minor league and high school teams could produce high quality players. At the high school level during the 80’s, QEH was the dominant force as they won several provincial titles and also tournaments all over the country. Bob Douglas who has become a local legend coached the team; his coaching success at QEH spanned three decades and has coached or influenced almost all of the best players that ever came out of Nova Scotia. In the 80’s alone the QEH Lions won four consecutive provincial titles and Douglas was recognized with the National Association of Basketball Coaches’. The high school league in general was very competitive and by the mid point of the 1980’s basketball was the most popular sport by both girls and boys at the high school level. All throughout the province great teams were being developed along with outstanding individual players. Some of the strongest teams during the 80’s along with the Lions were the Windsor Warlords under Ian MacMillan and Roger Caulfield, the Horton Griffins under Tim Kendrick, the Dartmouth High Spartans, the Cobequid Cougars, the St. Patrick’s fighting Irish, the Parkview Panthers, and the Halifax west Warriors under Nick Morash. Also, for the first time in the 1980’s people were able to watch via cable NBA and NCAA basketball games. This provided athletes with heroes like Julius Erving, Magic Johnson, and Larry Bird, and it also turned them into more knowledgeable basketball fans. University basketball clinics became very popular during this time span and basketball became a year round sport as kids became more dedicated to the game. As a result minor programs saw participation levels skyrocket and kids who were coming out of them to join high school teams had a greater understanding of the fundamentals and were ready to take it to the next level. Some of the other changes that occurred is that you saw athletes with better physical attributes. By training, dieting and practicing the athletes were able to jump higher and run faster and changed how the game was played throughout the province. Another event that started in the 70’s was the first Provincial Black Basketball Tournament. It began in the summer of 1973 at the St. Pat’s gym in Halifax with hardly any publicity but it continued the next summer and has grown into what is now called the Terry Symonds Invitational Basketball Tournament. It was named after the man who devoted his time and effort not only to basketball but also to the black community as a whole. When Symonds died in 1990 fr
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Approximate Word count = 2813
Approximate Pages = 11 (250 words per page double spaced)
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