Alberni girls compete at provincials......................Pages

The Armada’s 12-player roster includes fi ve Nuu-chah-nulth players. They qualifi ed for the 16-team provincials

By Sam Laskaris Ha-Shilth-Sa Contributor

Port Alberni, BC – Ryan Broekhuizen can vividly recall the last time the Alberni Armada had captured a major girls’ basketball championship. A senior girls’ squad representing Alberni District Secondary School (ADSS), captured the Vancouver Island championship way back in 1987. “It was 35 years ago,” Broekhuizen said. “I graduated from high school that year.” Fast forward to 2022 and Broekhuizen, an ADSS alumnus, is now the head coach of the Armada, a squad that features his daughter Jordyn as its star point guard and top point-getter. The Broekhuizen-coached club also managed to win its Vancouver Island championship in mid February. The ADSS team easily defeated Stelly’s Stingers, a club based in Saanichton, 57-36 in the gold-medal contest, staged Feb.19 in Victoria. By winning the tournament, the Armada qualifi ed for the 16-team provincial AAA tournament, which began March 2 at the Langley Events Centre. They came out the contest with a 2-2 record, fi nishing 13th . ADSS’s 12-player roster includes fi ve Nuu-chah-nulth players. They are Jenelle Johnson-Sabbas and Natalie Clappis, who are members of Huu-ay-aht First Nations, Jennifer Dick and Neve Watts of Tseshaht First Nation and Brandi Lucas, who has Tseshaht and Hesquiaht First Nation ancestry. The team’s assistant coach Dennis Bill is also Indigenous. Bill is a Tseshaht member. Several days after winning their Island title, Broekhuizen said his charges were still rather excited about their accomplishment. “They feel like celebrities right now,” he said, adding basketball is a huge deal in their community of Port Alberni. “I told them to enjoy every single second.” The Armada were sporting an impressive 20-2 record heading into their provincial tournament. “Our goal was defi nitely going to the provincials this season,” Broekhuizen said. “We literally dominated our way through the Island tournament.” The Armada kicked off that event by thumping the Parskville-based Ballenas

Photo submitted by Dennis Bill

Whalers 63-17 in its opening match. The ADSS club then advanced to the championship fi nal with a 50-37 triumph against the Carihi Tyees, who are from Campbell River, in its semi-fi nal outing. The Armada entered the Vancouver Island event as the top-ranked team from the northern portion of the island. The Stingers were the Number 1 seed from the south. Before the provincials, the only two losses the ADSS squad had suff ered this season were against AAAA teams, representing schools with a higher enrolment. Those that are grouped into the AAA category are schools that have between 163-262 girls in Grades 11 and 12. AAAA clubs are those that have more than 263 girls in the two senior grades at their school. BC School Sports, the governing body for secondary school athletics in the province, also has both AA and A categories for senior girls’ basketball entrants.

The ADSS Armada captured the Vancouver Island championship for the fi rst time in 35 years. The A division is for those schools that have 78 or fewer girls in Grades 11 and 12. And AA is for those who have between 79 and 162 girls in those grades. Seedings for the provincial AAA tournament were set in late February. The Armada is ranked 11th and squared off against sixth-seeded Sa-Hali Secondary School from Kamloops in its opening match. “Our fi rst game is a big one,” Broekhuizen said. “And I think it’s a winnable one.” The B.C. tourney featured a doubleknockout format, meaning teams had to lose two games before being eliminated from further action. The ADSS club would have had to pull off some upsets in order to return home with some hardware from the provincial tourney. That’s because some of the other entrants were considered powerhouses at the B.C. tournament, which ran until March 5. “What I’ve been told is the top four teams are very strong,” Broekhuizen said. “We might be reaching to get a medal. But you never know. It’s one game. It’s not a seven-game series.” Besides Jordyn Broekhuizen and the fi ve Nuu-chah-nulth players, the other members of the Armada roster are Hannah Rust, Olivia Warman, Linneah Hobbes, Beth Bexson, Brynn Geddes and Jaime Langlois. While there was the lengthy gap of 35 years between championships for the ADSS senior girls’ teams, the school did have another Island championship squad between there. But that feat was also accomplished many years ago. In fact, a quarter century ago. It was back in 1997 that the ADSS senior boys’ hoops squad last won its Island title.

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High school basketball squad comes out of March tournament with a 2-2 record, fi nishing 13th out of 16 teams

By Melissa Renwick Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Langley, BC- The Alberni District Secondary School (ADSS) senior girls’ Armada basketball team recently returned to Port Alberni after competing in the 2022 BC AAAA senior girls’ provincials in Langley. In the lead up to their fi rst game at the Langley Events Centre on March 2, assistant captain Jenelle Johnson-Sabbas said her nerves were running high. Unlike her home gymnasium at ADSS, the basketball court in Langley hosted larger crowds, an announcer’s table, and a big screen TV that broadcasted the game. While she said the new environment felt “kind of scary” at fi rst, the experience was not only good preparation for her goal to play college basketball, but for the upcoming annual TOTEM tournament being held in Port Alberni March 10 to 12. “It gives me that extra push,” she said. “There’s lot of great athletes over here that have us working non-stop.” Johnson-Sabbas’ sister, Natalie Clappis, was unfazed by the change of scenery. “Anywhere I play basketball is home,” she said. The ADSS senior girls’ team entered the provincial tournament ranked 11 out of 16 teams. After two wins and two losses, they fi nished the tournament ranked 13. “It’s good that we had challenging games,” said Clappis. “And the crowds prepared us for what TOTEM will [bring].” The team’s fi rst game was against the Sa-Hali Secondary School senior girls’ team, which was ranked fi fth. Although ADSS were defeated by a score of 62-68, Assistant Coach Dennis Bill said Armada took their competitors by surprise. “I kind of got the impression that the team thought they could walk over us – that we were just this little team from Vancouver Island,” said Bill. “I don’t think they were quite ready for us. Our team really stepped up and did a great job.” Because the provincial tournament draws the best teams from around B.C., Bill said that the ADSS team had to “learn to adapt to diff erent ways of playing.” “We had to learn about composure during the game,” he said. “It was really neat for the players to play in a bigger venue … it was a really, really great experience for them to have.” As much as Johnson-Sabbas said she was grateful for the opportunity to play in the provincials, she was looking forward to being back on her home court. “It’ll feel good to be back home playing in front of the people that have wanted to watch us since the season started,” she said. The provincial tournament was a good build up to TOTEM because the Armada senior girls’ team will be playing two of the teams from the provincial championships, Bill said. “We obviously had some nerves at the beginning of the tournament because we had never really experienced anything like this,” said Bill. “The team was very supportive of each other and they really came together as a team, and I think it brought the team closer together.”

Photos by Melissa Renwick Jenelle Johnson-Sabbas, assistant captain (left), and Natalie Clappis play on the Alberni District Secondary School’s senior girls basketball team.