Shawnigan Basketball Association

Student-led league is a huge success
Shawnigan students have had a ball this term with a wonderfully creative and athletic use of their Friday SOULo time. Grade 12 student Nathan K. seized the opportunity presented by our SOUL Seeking program and our new schedule’s Friday afternoon SOULo time and dreamed up a school-wide NBA-style basketball league, the first of its kind at Shawnigan.

He included three fellow Grade 12 students, Jake B., Torben G. and Hayden I., in the planning process and invited the whole School to participate – resulting in 48 students joining the league!

“The Shawnigan Basketball Association, commonly referred to as the SBA, is Shawnigan Lake School’s very own internal basketball league that was founded on October 1, 2020 by four Grade 12s, Mr. Anctil and Mr. Yorath,” Nathan K. proudly shares. “This three-vs.-three basketball league was founded to bring fun and competitive basketball to Shawnigan during the pandemic.”

The General Managers (Nathan and the other student founders) carefully designed their league to mirror the NBA, retaining all of the key elements that make up that professional league. “The SBA is making a strong effort to be as authentic of a basketball league as possible,” explains Nathan. “We have updating standings, a regular season and a postseason, a series of events for our All-Star Break, end-of-season awards and all-league teams, trades, signings, deadlines, and player voting, among many other features (that don’t involve money).” Student volunteers help to keep the league running by scorekeeping and refereeing the games.

The league is open to players of any experience, and because participation in the SBA is not to be considered a student’s primary sport, interest and involvement have been strong. Players wishing to participate were asked to form teams of six, with three players from each team on the court at any one time.

Once teams had signed up for the league, the challenge was to draft a working schedule – and after multiple revisions, Nathan did just that. The league’s first games were played on October 16, and they will play every Friday until their season-ending playoff games on December 4.

The regular season was put on pause on November 6 as the student co-founders ran a special All-Star Break. Players from within the league were chosen to participate in the events, which included a Rising Stars Game, 3-point Contest, Skills Challenge, Jelly Contest and All-Star Game.

“Shawnigan Lake School should hire Nathan in some capacity because he has shown tremendous organization and passion in creating the Shawnigan Basketball Association,” says self-declared “staff superfan” Mr. Anctil. “Nathan has done a ton of work behind the scenes to get this league up and running, and then to pivot and weave through logistical and scheduling problems, and add COVID protocols to top it off; it has been impressive.”

Based on the success of this inaugural season, we expect to see more of the SBA in the future!

Shawnigan Lake School is adhering to all COVID-19 guidelines released by the BC Ministries of Health and Education, including those regarding learning cohorts, physical distancing and mask-wearing when appropriate.
Back
We acknowledge with respect the Coast Salish Peoples on whose traditional lands and waterways we live, learn and play. We are grateful for the opportunity to share in this beautiful region, and we aspire to healthy and respectful relationships with those who have lived on and cared for these lands for millennia.