A brand new group is trying to bring the Abbotsford basketball community together, in a big way.
The recently formed Abbotsford Basketball Association is aiming to be the one-stop shop for players of all ages in Abbotsford.
The ABA’s website, located at abbotsfordbasketball.com, strives to be a place where basketball players of all ages can come together to find information about all things basketball in Abbotsford. This includes tournaments, camps, skill sessions, leagues, news stories, funding options, community events and more.
The group also hopes to bring unique camps to town and to set up leagues and share stories of locals.
ABA interim director Dylan Kular said making the sport available to youth helped launch the group.
Kular, who starred in the sport at W.J. Mouat Secondary and excelled in the PacWest with the Quest Kermodes, said he wants to grow the game through kids.
“We hated seeing kids that weren’t able to join programs because of cost,” he said. “The benefits to the ABA are multifold. We help kids get access to basketball, we teach them to integrate character into sport, and we bring older kids in to lead as coaches, referees and scorekeepers so they can feel themselves making a positive difference in the community. Aside from wanting to bring the community together, we wanted to ensure our programming was accessible, so we made our programs affordable and some of the time free.”
One example of the group’s free events was the recent G2 Improve Your Game Camp, which was a free one-day camp hosted at Rick Hansen Secondary on Wednesday. The ABA partnered with G2 Athletics, a group that has worked with players from the NBA to high school. G2 Athletics will be bringing their training program to Abbotsford on a weekly basis in the coming months.
But it’s not just the kids that the ABA wants to work with, as they are also set to create new leagues and partner with existing local leagues to help them grow and promote.
“We organize accessible leagues for players to play games and have an opportunity to complement their basketball training with games to test their skills,” Kular said.
“We also partnered with Abbotsford Men’s Basketball League and the Abbotsford Women’s Basketball League where we will help with standings, stats, stories, promotions, registrations, and organizing when necessary. In every youth league we provide a $250 scholarship to a player who demonstrates outstanding leadership, teamwork, and respect throughout the league.”
Community events are another big goal for the ABA, and they are hoping to work with existing events and help bring new ones to Abbotsford.
“We just partnered with Big Brothers Big Sisters Fraser Valley and Dynamite Basketball (Vancouver) to bring Abbotsford the Swishin’ Mission,” he said. “The goal from this campaign is to promote outdoor recreation amongst the community by putting up brand new nets on 10 foot basketball hoops in Abbotsford. This year we also hosted basketball jamborees for over 600 kids at Mouat, Hansen, and Bateman. Next year we will host at Mouat, Hansen, Bateman, Yale, and Abbotsford Senior.”
The ABA has also partnered with the Abbotsford News. They will link to basketball stories from The News on their website, and also work with reporters on potential story ideas.
For more information on the ABA, visit abbotsfordbasketball.com.
