Approximately six years ago, the City of Martensville began offering more opportunities for youth interested in playing basketball and since then, there has been tremendous growth in the sport locally.
This year, Martensville had a total of 14 teams competing in the SMBA league, as well as two teams in the Mini-Dunkers program. This was the first time that Martensville had teams participating in every level available through SMBA, including Spuds, Mini, Bantam, Junior and Senior levels. This year also marked the first time Martensville had a girls team competing in three different divisions.
“We have never had this many teams or players participate in basketball locally before and we were up four teams this year compared to last year,” City of Martensville Recreation Program Coordinator Angela Reddekopp stated.
The SMBA season runs October to March, and wrapped up this past weekend with 5 out of 11 eligible teams out of Martensville competing for a medal. In the end, the Martensville teams brought home one gold medal, three silver medals and one fourth place finish.
Now that the season is finished, Reddekopp explained that the City of Martensville is looking to expand options available to basketball players in the community, so this year, they are creating a Club Team for the 13U age division to participate in the SMBA 3-on-3 Development Program that is available through the spring. Graham Reddekopp, Brad McGowan and Lance Roberts will be the coaches for Martensville Thunder Spring Basketball team.
“This is something new this year, and in the future, we would look at possibly expanding into other age groups, but this year, we wanted to try it out and see what kind of response we would get, and so far, it has been great. There are a lot of kids in this community that have a passion for the game and want to keep playing, so this is just an opportunity for them to continue enhancing their skills,” Reddekopp explained.
Reddekopp also noted that she has seen an increase in interest within all age groups as people come to the Martensville Athletic Pavilion to play and work on their skills regularly. The Saskatchewan Rattlers held a Basketball Youth Camp at Lake Vista on March 19th, and Basketball Saskatchewan will be hosting a BSI Supercamp at the MAP on April 1st and 2nd.
“You can see basketball growing in the community with the increase in local interest, but also with different events being hosted here. We are so proud of all of the athletes taking part in the available options and we are so excited for the growth and potential of where this opportunity can continue to grow in the future.”
PHOTO ABOVE: The Martensville Thunder Mini-Boys B played EACCA in the gold medal final for the SMBA Basketball Playoffs. The team played hard and ended their season with a silver medal.
ABOVE: The Martensville Storm Jr Boys B were gold medal winners after competing in playoffs this past weekend.
