Four Garden Valley Collegiate students who excel at basketball are getting the opportunity to take their game to another level.
They were recently accepted to be part of the new junior Wesmen team at the University of Winnipeg. It’s an exciting opportunity, especially for a trio who have played together going back as far as Gr. 3 and now through high school.
“It’s not common that four of them would be on the team, but we think they can definitely compete talent-wise, so we are happy to give them the opportunity,” said Alyssa Cox, head coach of the U of W women’s basketball program.
The trio who are longtime friends and classmates are Mekdes Wall, Annika Dyck, and Maria Bergen. The fourth local student accepted into the program is Nadlyne Bergen. The latter Bergen was not available to comment, but the other three were very excited to have the opportunity.
“The three of us have played together, so I think we’ll have good chemistry,” said Dyck.
“I’m really grateful that we are able to have an opportunity like this,” she said. “As rural kids, it’s really hard to get exposure if you would like to play at a higher level. I think it’s really cool that they reached out to us and are giving us this opportunity as kids with potential.”
Wall said it is especially good as well to be going into it with some classmates and friends.
“I thought it was pretty cool to just be able to be a local player and be able to grow with some elite competition and a good coaching staff,” she said. “It’s a really good opportunity … I’m looking forward to it.”
Maria Bergen thinks it will be a tremendous learning experience.
“I’m really thankful for this opportunity because playing here compared to in Winnipeg, it’s two different levels,” she said. “I’m happy to get this exposure to playing against athletes who are better … it helps me as a player.”
Being part of the junior Wesmen team will include a number of tournaments throughout the season with a break during the winter months before resuming next spring.
Cox recognized it is a bit more of a challenge for rural athletes with the program being in Winnipeg.
“It’s a little bit tougher for some of the rural athletes to participate just because of the drive and the distance,” she acknowledged.
“This group of girls has a lot of talent,” she noted. “They have participated with some provincial teams and Manitoba Games teams, and they just have had some good coaching and development out there.
“I’ve seen them play a handful of times and some of our other coaches have as well,” she noted. “We reached out in hopes that they would come to our tryouts.
“They’re a great group; very athletic, and I think all of them are multi-sport athletes, and I think it’s really helped them develop as basketball players and as athletes.”
Cox noted they have high hopes for the revival of the junior Wesmen program, which existed a number of years ago.
“We wanted to bring it back just to kind of increase our involvement with the youth basketball community,” she said. “We’re hoping it goes well … and our biggest goal is that we get the chance to get some young players involved in our Wesmen community.
“It would be great if we were to perform well on the court as well, but I think more than anything we’re just hoping we can give more kids an opportunity to play and get to know our program.”
