by PAUL RAYNER

Winning awards may not be the main reason for the exercise, but they often point in the direction of success on many levels.

Boissevain School girls’ basketball coach Keith Forsyth was awarded the Junior Varsity Rural Coach of the Year for Manitoba high school basketball on April 19. A previous winner of coaching awards, Forsyth said the implications of the award were greater than the honour itself.

“It’s nice to know others see what you do,” Forsyth stated. “It is the culmination of a good year. To me, it’s nice, but to me the kids’ year was more important.”

It was a successful year for girls’ basketball in Boissevain for sure. The Junior Varsity (Grades 9-10) squad won the provincial rural championships at Provincials in Portage on March 7-8. They won their championship game against the Goose Lake Angels by a whopping score of 49-17. It was not a major surprise for the coach.

“We won the provincials, and were easily the best. We won the finals by 32 points. We had almost all grade 9’s in there last year, and some of them were still around and with the newer kids, we had great depth and I kind of expected we would be strong.”

Perhaps ironically, although Forsyth won his award for his work with the championship JV team, in some ways he feels more proud of what was accomplished by the Varsity Bronco squad. A team that lost three Grade 12’s from the 2007 team grew up together on the court, losing the AA Provincial final in Teulon to the St. Anne Lynx in overtime 60-57. Although a double championship would have been nice, Forsyth was very pleased with the season.

“I did more coaching with the Varsity team this year than JV,” he said. “We had such a young team (7 players were from grade 9 and 10 and doubled with the JV squad). The first goal was just to make Provincials. A lot of times, Boissevain is in the talk about teams to beat but not this year. We always had a couple of 9 and 10’s on the floor. We won a couple of tournaments and played well at Provincials. It bodes well for the future.”

There are many reasons for the consistent success of the Bronco girls’ basketball teams. One, Forsyth stated, is focusing not on the results, but on the effort and process. This is not simply the easy “it’s how you play the game” philosophy, because the teams are certainly competitive. Instead, it is more on a sort of inward looking way at playing.

“What we talk about,” Forsyth explained, “is to try not to worry about the result, but the process. ‘How well can we play?’ If we play as well as we can, we will have an opportunity to win most games. We practice hard, play hard. You can only control what you do, so you try not to worry about the result.”

“There is so much to learn about life. It is a team sport, so it’s about what is best for the cause. The basic philosophy is – ‘how well can we play?’”

Forsyth feels they are also helped by geography. Because they are close to the border, they can schedule games with teams in North Dakota like Bottineau and St. John. This is tough competition, as the Varsity Broncos often play the US JV teams, with our JV’s playing a younger squad.

“We lose about 90% of the games,” he explained, “but it is a big advantage to us, because we are always playing good, solid teams.”

As well, their philosophy of play is consistent. The clubs always have a pool of younger players coming in who know how to play the systems that are used, they just improve on them as they get more experienced.

Forsyth also feels they are starting to see the result of the summer basketball camp. Run in August, around 60-70 kids of both genders attend a week of fundamental skill training. Different ages work for different lengths of time, including an evening camp for high school players. Forsyth coaches the camp now, but has help from some Bronco alumni.

“It’s only a week, but it’s a start. We work on fundamentals mainly, and it helps the kids fall in love with the game early.”

Although more boys than girls usually attend the camp, Forsyth feels it has been especially important for the female teams.

“We can get them hooked on basketball in grades 1-3,” he explained. “They talk about it – ‘when I play JV. This is a really big benefit.”

Coach Forsyth was not the only one from the girls’ teams to be honoured. Both Varsity players Megan Scott and Jill Workman were chosen to play in Basketball Manitoba’s Graduating All Star Game. Workman’s play all season was recognized when she was selected to the second All-Manitoba team. The Bronco leader in scoring and steals, Forsyth feels it was an honour well deserved.

“She was easily our most valuable player, and as competitive a person as you will meet. She works awfully hard and I would have been disappointed if she was not recognized.”

Although the playing season is done, the program has one last event. On Sunday, May 4, is the Boissevain Broncos 9th Annual Girls Basketball Supper to be held at Boissevain School. The event helps the two teams raise money for student government, a major supporter of the teams.

“They subsidize us, and we feel this is a good way to put some money back in their coffers,” Forsyth explained. “We usually make over $1,000 profit and feed about 250 people on average, including the home deliveries. The administration puts no restrictions on us, so it is great to be able to put some money back in.”

With a good system in place and young but experienced players coming up, Forsyth feels girls’ basketball in Boissevain is in good shape.

“Girls’ basketball here in the next 7-8 years should be pretty exciting.”