Basketball gyms across Christchurch were bursting at the seams last Saturday with the opening weekend of competition play and all 7 St Bede’s sides tipped off their season.

The opening weekend was a round of grading games with teams allocated to their grades from this weekend onwards.

U20 (Senior A)

vs Nth Canterbury Black L 71-78

(James Leen 29, Ashton Walls 14)

U17A

vs Burnside Black W 76-67

(Lochie McLean 20, Corban Fisher 17)

U17 Black

vs Papanui Blue W 83-54

(Max Herbert 20, Edan Taylor 14)

U15A

vs Middleton Grange W 91-41

(Troy Cutbush 27, Cooper Siave 18, Harry Courname 12, Kyle Peterson10)

U15 Black

vs Nth Canterbury White W 74-62

(Cooper McDowall 24, Finn Pearson 14, Charlie Hatton 13)

U15 Red

vs Celebration Lions White L 27-31

(Harry Methven 14)

U15 White

vs Pioneer Yellow L 57-67

(Nikau Campbell 18, Brad Lanorias 17, Ryan Cooke 14)

After several pre-season games the Senior A side commence the Canterbury secondary school competition, the Thomson Trophy, next Tuesday.

Originally scheduled as a home game, the team will take on St Thomas at their gym in what will be a tough opening fixture. The team would appreciate your support as they look to start the competition with a win and hope to see you at St Thomas gym for a 7pm tip off.

The first home game is scheduled for May 27 vs STAC and in preparation for this we are seeking a courtside announcer to keep the court informed and entertained. If this sounds like you, or you know someone who would be keen for this role please let Kelvin Fisher, Mr Ven or Mr McKenzie know.

Best of luck to all of the teams playing this weekend and the Senior team next week.

During the holidays the 30th South Island Primary Tournament was hosted by North Canterbury Basketball and it was amazing to see a huge number of St Bede's boys contributing on multiple fronts - coaching, refereeing and scorebench.

Well done boys for giving back to the sport, very impressive and deserves to be highly commended.

In exciting news for basketball at St Bede’s, Old Boy Walter Brown was named to the Canterbury Rams squad for 2021 season. This is amazing achievement for Walter and certainly provides all of our players with inspiration for their basketball aspirations. It is great to have Walter still involved with basketball at St Bede’s, with him and Taylor Willis coaching our U15 Black team.