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| 05 Feb, 2003 |
Tourney lifts
spirits - Annual basketball fundraiser helps sick children |
BY MICHAEL PIASETZKI -
The Chronicle
On a sorrowful weekend marked by tragedies in the sky and on
the mountains of British Columbia, a ray of hope emanated
from John Rennie High School in Pointe Claire.
The seventh annual Sian Bradwell/West Island Lakers
Basketball Association All-Star Weekend unfolded on Sunday.
Sick children lying in beds suffering from cancer at the
Montreal Children’s Hospital were the benefactors. At the
end of the day, West Islanders proved once again they care.
Over $5,000 was raised through the fundraiser, far exceeding
last year’s total of over $3,000.
Yellow Boomers’ Christoph Smith drives to basket during
Sunday’s West Island Lakers Basketball Association
mini-boys’ all-star game. (Chronicle, Peter McCabe)
“Everybody has just been fantastic and things have gone
great,” said WILBA president Mike Gaudin. “We have healthy
kids playing a great sport helping sick kids with cancer.
The Merck Frosst Employee Charity Trust Fund donated $1,500
which was just unbelievable. We also raised money through
the canteen, raffle ticket sales, and donations. I honestly
feel this is just the start of something that will get
bigger each year.”
Three members of the Montreal Alouettes, including
quarterback Anthony Calvillo — contract problems and all —
cornerback Barron Miles and defensive back Mark Washington,
dropped by to lend support and play in a celebrity
basketball game.
“It’s great to come out and support the community and show
the kids who are here that we can give back,” said Miles.
“Any event that involves kids, I try to give my heart back
to.”
For the third straight year, Sharon Bradwell, a former West
Island resident now living in Burlington, Ont., made the
trip down to offer encouragement.
Bradwell, with husband Ken, started the foundation after
their daughter Sian died from a rare form of cancer in 1986
at only 17 months old.
“It’s great to be back. Even though it’s been five years,
the West Island still feels like home,” she said. “The
organizers here have done a wonderful job. Every year it
seems to be getting bigger. A lot of cancer awareness is
being raised through events like this.”
Bradwell said the money raised on Sunday went towards buying
equipment used for cancer-saving treatments at the Montreal
Children’s.
“We leave it up to the oncology department to come up with a
priority. For example, it bought an infant weighing scale
through the foundation this year,” she said.
Besides the fundraising, eight basketball games, from
pre-novice to juvenile, were played. Some of WIlBA’s finest
girls’ and boys’ house-league players, chosen for their fine
performances and good sportsmanship during the regular
season’s first half, took the floor.
Coaches did not show any priorities as far as playing time
went. Clubs had to rotate their personnel with equal playing
time.
In the mini-boys’ contest, the Yellow Boomers seemed to feed
off a lot of energy from its coaching staff to register a
well-deserved 45-28 victory over the Blue Devils.
Derik Szemenyei led the Yellow Boomers with 11 points, while
Nicholas Magnan added eight. Alex Campbell had eight points
for the Blue Devils.
The game was never in doubt. The Yellow Boomers took control
of the contest early, jumped off to a quick 16-3 lead and
never looked back.
They led by as much as 23-7 at the half and 35-17 after the
third quarter.
“We tried to instill in the kids that any good exciting
basketball starts on defence,” said Yellow Boomers co-head
coach Charles Carlisle. “They bought it. We also had enough
talented shooters that we ended up with good offensive
shots. They responded to everything we asked them to do.”
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