Tyler Anderson didn’t think basketball was the game for him.
He was a Grade 8 student when his PE teacher — and long-time Walnut Grove basketball coach — George Bergen approached him about giving hoops a try.
Until that point, Anderson was a football and rugby player.
But looking at a six-foot-one, 170-pound kid who is just entering high school, Bergen envisioned a dominant post player.
“He had the body for football … a big body, powerful guy,” the coach said.
“Tyler wanted to go into football and I did a little smooth talking.”
“After Grade 8, he told me he was going all football,” Bergen said.
“We had a couple of conversations and he decided to stay with hoops and quit football. A great decision.”
Anderson said he relented and gave the sport a try that first year just to see how he liked it.
“That was not my favourite year,” he admitted.
“I found (basketball) challenging, but I stuck with it.”
And that summer, he made Basketball B.C.’s U15 provincial B team.
“And everything just took off from there,” Anderson said.
Anderson, who turns 18 this summer, capped off his high school career last month by helping the Gators finish ninth at the B.C. senior boys 4A high school championships.
The Gators, who were seeded 13th for the 16-team tournament, lost their opening round game before reeling off three consecutive victories.
And Anderson was a big part of the success, finishing with 26.5 points per game (seventh in the tournament) and 11.8 rebounds (sixth). He was fifth in field goal percentage, connecting on 45 of his 62 shot attempts, but of the four players ahead of him in percentage, none of them attempted more than 18 shots.
For his efforts, Anderson was named a tournament second team all-star.
Five years later, Anderson leaves Walnut Grove as an accomplished basketball player, including an invite to this Sunday’s B.C. high school all-star game at the Langley Events Centre.
The game goes at 5 p.m. and will be preceded by the high school girls’ all-star game at 3 p.m. That game features Brookswood’s Tayla Jackson.
“It is humbling that I get to finish my high school career playing with some of the best kids in the province,” Anderson said.
“It is definitely a good feeling.”
Anderson is also following in the footsteps of his father, Ed, who starred as a high schooler.
The elder Anderson played for Princeton, winning most valuable player honours in 1981 and first team all-star in 1982 as his team was third both years. Anderson also played in a provincial all-star game and then went on to play for Vancouver Community College.
And it was working on his game with his dad which also helped Tyler Anderson refine his game.
Anderson has grown into his body as he now stands six-foot-six and weighs 220 pounds and he said they stopped playing one-on-one back in Grade 9 when he got too big and began repeatedly defeating his father.
And while some big men prefer to play on the perimeter, Anderson has been a staple in the post for the Gators during his high school career, although he has played on the wing with the provincial team program.
He is not a stereotypical big man, who plants himself down low in the post and waits for the ball to be dumped inside. Instead, he uses his footwork and quickness to maneuver to gain an advantage.
“Most of (my checks) like to body me up, but I like to use my quickness to get around them,” he said.
“What he brought to the team was a defensive presence inside, but he also had a multitude of ways he could score,” Bergen said.
“He really worked at getting his moves around the basket.”
Anderson also hopes to keep playing basketball at the Canada West level, with one offer on the table and having worked out for another university and waiting to hear back from them.
“When I started, I never thought I would have come this far,” he said.
Bergen said he can see Anderson succeeding at the university level.
“I think a guy his size — because he is a tweener — he is going to make some adjustments to get out to the perimeter more,” the coach said.
“But he also has a body type where he can set ball screens and really contribute to a team in a physical way.”
Anderson plans on studying to become a pharmacist.
