Midget Basketball: Rez Midgets Get Junior Level Experience

Usually, you probably wouldn't be able to take too many positives away from a tournament where your team loses three games by an average of 45 points per contest.

Of course, for Resurrection junior coach Chris Aldworth, he's not as concerned about the present as he is the future.

That's because the team to which the losses refer is the Resurrection CSS midget basketball program, which was resurrected (no pun intended) in part by Aldworth about five years ago.  The team is only for grade 9s that did not make the junior team.

Coached by Dan Polischuk in 2010-11, the Phoenix midgets participated at the St. David CSS "Timmy Rose" junior invitational this past weekend.  After losing their opener to Kitchener Huron Heights (52-16), the Phoenix were thumped by Kitchener Eastwood 75-5 in a consolation semifinal before dropping a 50-20 decision to the Waterloo Wildhawks in the tournament's 7th place game.

Despite the outcomes, Zack Holness and Che-Fidel Richards are a couple of guys that may be able to crack a Rez roster in the coming years.

The Phoenix junior and senior teams have reaped the benefit over the past several years.  In fact, four of RCSS' top 8 players from their 2010 junior (CWOSSA AAAA championship) team played midget basketball in grade 9. 

On the 2010-11 Phoenix senior squad, starting forward Mike Pereira, reserve forward Cory Kenning and reserve guard Byron Ramirez all played on the midget team in grade 9.  All three will be key to Resurrection's success this season.

It should be noted that RCSS isn't the only local school with a midget program. In fact, at one point or another almost all D8 schools (Monsingor Doyle, St. Benedict, St. David, St. Mary's and even Woodland) have fielded teams and the squads play an actual schedule with playoffs. Last year, the St. Mary's Eagles became the first school to have their name on the trophy after Rez took the first three championships.

Aldworth discussed why Rez has seen midget players contribute to their junior and senior teams after not making the junior squad in grade nine:

"Some players mature later, or grow into their bodies late. Some athletes change sports and just need to pick up the skills, while others just need skill refinement and an opportunity to play in an organized setting in order to contribute," he said.

"This is not YBL," Aldworth added.  "There are set plays and team concepts to learn and we do our best to develop players for junior and senior."

Of course, developing players may mean that the squad takes some lumps in tournament play.  Aldworth noted that the squad usually doesn't participate in tournaments like the Timmy Rose (they were a last-minute replacement entry), preferring instead to participate in exhibition/tournament games against smaller A or AA junior teams, or in midget tournaments in other areas that have midget programs (e.g. Sarnia).

This year's D8 midget league features five teams --- Woodland Christian, St. Benedict, St. David, Resurrection, and St. Mary's.  The league tipped off last Thursday, with St. David topping St. Mary's by a 41-30 score.

For the rest of the season, games are played as a "doubleheader" on Thursday nights at one location.  This week's games see St. Benedict vs. St. David (3:30pm) and Woodland vs. Rez (4:45pm) on Thursday at St. David.