By Martin Cleary For the 11 players and five coaches of the Ottawa South Basketball Association girls’ U13 team and family-type unit, Tuesday and Thursday were practice nights. Everyone would head either to St. Mark High School or Vimy Ridge Public School for two hours of skill and team development, family togetherness and, of course, fun and laughter. That strict schedule took a dramatic U-turn on the final Tuesday of April. But that was OK. It was rather welcomed and necessary. Instead of following the normal Tuesday night practice schedule, it was time to celebrate a championship season for Ottawa South, which took a page from the Toronto Raptors’ playbook by nicknaming themselves We the South. This final team get-together was the cherry on top of a youth basketball season, where the goal was to win the Ontario Cup Division 1 girls’ U13 title, a year after being silver medallists in the girls’ U12 Division 1 Ontario Cup. Two parents took charge of organizing the team championship party at Vimy Ridge, which was yet another example of how the players and the parents accepted various roles to produce a winning product. The players were dedicated at practices and games, while the parents took on positions such as fundraiser, scorekeeper, strength and conditioning coach, treasurer, player register, scheduler and registration booker for tournaments. ~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~ When it came time to salute the golden season, the players and parents could equally share in the moment. One parent brought a cake to the Tuesday gathering. The basketball from the championship game was awarded to the team and it was on display with the players’ signatures. Another parent bought T-shirts with the message ‘Champions Ontario Cup 2026.’ Each player took turns autographing each other’s T-shirts as a special memory of the season. Can’t forget the framed championship banner, which will be passed around from girl to girl during this year to celebrate with immediate family, relatives and friends. Ottawa South champions autograph session. Photo provided It was a festive time, triggered by winning four straight games at the Ontario Cup and securing the desired title. But about a month ago, it didn’t look like that was a possibility. After winning 22 of its first 31 games in Ontario Basketball League Division 1 U13 and Eastern Ontario Basketball Association League U14 competitions, Ottawa South lost six straight games before the season-ending Ontario Cup tournament. “The last few games (before the Ontario Cup) we were in a position of losing consecutive games,” explained head coach Patrick Fraser in a phone interview. “(The question was) how are we able to overcome this? “It took a lot of conversations in team discussions before practices and at the end of practices. We were losing games against players one year older (14-year-olds). We tried to make them understand what that means. They were shooting above their weight.” Fraser and his coaching staff decided to compete at the girls’ U13 Division 1 level in the Ontario Basketball League and chase that title. But the coaches also wanted the girls to challenge themselves against older competition and practice different strategies by entering the girls’ U14 Eastern Ontario Basketball Association League. He also used some of the strategies – visualization, breathing techniques, overcoming emotional challenges and communication – he learned from the Basketball Canada Train to Train coaching certification program he took this season. Ottawa South at the Ontario Cup girls’ U13 basketball tournament in Brampton. Photo provided When Ottawa South locked into the Ontario Cup, the players regained their winning touch by moving the ball well in its high-transition offence and employing impressive full-court and player-to-player defences. “I along with the assistant coaches knew we had communicated with them clearly and the positive feedback was the best we could do,” said Fraser, who also coached Ottawa South to the Ontario Cup Division 4 championship in the 2023-24 season. “The girls found themselves again. They were able to feed off each other. They could count on each other. They all knew their strengths and weaknesses.” The Ontario Cup format, which is open to boys and girls from U10 to U19, is straightforward enough. Win three round-robin games and you go to the gold-medal final. Win two and you might find yourself playing for gold, bronze or fifth place. The first option proves to be the simplest equation. Ottawa South showed its togetherness and strengths by winning its three preliminary games in Brampton – 52-36 over Huron Lakers, 59-36 over Oakville Vytis and 34-24 over EY Eagles. The victory over the EY Eagles was something special. Not only did it qualify Ottawa South for the championship final, but also it was a win over the team it had lost to in the 2025 Ontario Cup Division 1 girls’ U12 championship game. The Ottawa South U12 girls’ basketball team and their fans celebrated three wins and one loss en route to a silver medal performance in the first division at the 2025 Ontario Cup in Ottawa. Photo: Dan Plouffe Entering the final, Ottawa South knew its opponent, the Brantford CYO, from two previous games. “We had beaten them previously, but we were not going in with the idea we had the championship game won. We knew it would be tough. Brantford CYO was a gritty team,” Fraser analyzed. Ottawa South paid special attention on defence to Brantford’s key players and also applied an effective full-court press. Using well-trained plays to bring the ball up court, the Ottawa South offence grabbed rebounds, limited turnovers and made the most of their shots. Ottawa South defeated Brantford CYO 54-37 for the Ontario Cup Division 1 girls’ U13 title. Ottawa South celebrates their Ontario Cup title. Photo provided The only other higher level of competition for their age group was the provincial championship, which involved eight elite teams. Emyrah Hameed led the Ottawa South scorers with 16 points, while Sabrina Chen contributed 15 points in the final. In the round-robin game against EY Eagles, Sabrina Chen connected for 14 points and Eleanor Fraser had eight points. “My philosophy at the start of the season was to build a family, build a community. I wanted the players to be friends,” Fraser explained. “I also wanted the girls to grow in basketball. The way we were successful was through friendship. We feel like a community. These are competitive friendships. They feed off each other. They learn to compete to be better.” The Ottawa South girls’ U13 team was just one of many Ottawa youth teams to win Ontario Cup medals this season. Ottawa Next Level were the top local finishers at the May 1-3 boys’ U14 Ontario Cup, with second division silver. Read More: ‘Just give them a touch’: Coach subs in injured players late in ONL’s hometown silver medal surge Here’s a list of the Ottawa podium teams from the first five weekends of Ontario Cup action: GIRLS’ U10 Division 2 – Nepean defeated Brockville 16-10, gold; Gloucester-Cumberland defeated Sarnia Valhalla 22-14, bronze. BOYS’ U10 Division 2 – Ottawa South lost to St. Thomas Shock 34-32, silver. Division 6 – Gloucester-Cumberland defeated SCNYB 28-24, gold. Division 7 – Nepean lost to Rising Suns 34-29, silver. BOYS’ U11 Division 5 – Ottawa Next Level lost to St. Thomas Shock 52-36, silver. Division 10 – Ottawa South defeated Durham Crossovers 34-33, bronze. BOYS’ U12 Division 3 – Ottawa Next Level defeated Toronto NuStep Ballers 48-38, gold. Division 9 – Ottawa Next Level lost to Toronto Nets 51-46, silver. GIRLS’ U12 Division 1 – Gloucester-Cumberland defeated Belleville Spirits 31-25, bronze. Division 2 – Ottawa South lost to B1CE London 53-35, silver. Division 3 – Ottawa Shooting Stars lost to Chatham Kent Wildcats 39-33, silver. Division 4 – West Ottawa Hornets defeated Sudbury Storm 41-37, bronze. Division 5 – Nepean defeated New Horizon Heat 29-11, gold. Division 7 – Ottawa Shooting Stars Selects defeated Thornhill Thunder 44-31, gold. BOYS’ U13 Division 2 – Ottawa Next Level lost to Riverside Falcons 71-58, silver. Division 4 – Nepean defeated Oxford Attack 42-39, gold. Division 9 – Ottawa Shooting Stars defeated GBA 55-53, bronze. Division 10 – West Ottawa Hornets lost to Maple 50-35, silver. Division 12 – Ottawa South defeated Blitz 46-42, gold. Division 19 – Nepean lost to Valhalla 78-46, silver. GIRLS’ U13 Division 2 – Nepean lost to EY Eagles 42-40, silver. Division 6 – Gloucester-Cumberland defeated IEM Newmarket 40-29, bronze. GIRLS’ U14 Division 3 – Gloucester-Cumberland defeated TTT 47-45, bronze. Division 4 – Ottawa Shooting Stars defeated Niagara Falls 41-31, bronze. Division 7 – Nepean defeated PRBC 40-35, gold. Division 8 – West Ottawa Hornets defeated Mumba Elite 42-30, bronze. Division 9 – Ottawa Shooting Stars defeated Cambridge 34-30, bronze. Division 10 – Kemptville lost to SCNYB 39-32, silver. Martin Cleary has written about amateur sports for over 52 years. A past Canadian sportswriter of the year and Ottawa Sports Awards Lifetime Achievement in Sport Media honouree, Martin retired from full-time work at the in 2012, but continued to write a bi-weekly “High Achievers” for the Citizen/Sun. When the pandemic struck, Martin created the High Achievers “Stay-Safe Edition” to provide some positive news during tough times, via his Twitter account at first and now here at OttawaSportsPages.ca. Martin can be reached by e-mail at [email protected] and on Twitter @martincleary.
Related
Source link
