#RepYourRegion: Dynamite Basketball boys training hard for a second appearance at Bballnationals
Dynamite Basketball will be returning to Bballnationals this year, after a successful first year at the tournament in 2018.
“We are definitely looking forward to it,” says Dynamite Basketball co-founder and coach Brodan Thiel. “I know the boys are training hard for this. It definitely is a pivotal tournament that we always were building up for — we want to have a good showing.”
In their tournament debut, they fielded a number of top ten finishes, including fourth and fifth place showings. This year they have seven boys teams registered — a U17 team playing in the U18 division, two U16s and U15s, and a U14 and U13 team.
Dynamite Basketball has grown quickly since its creation a few years ago.
“We started it five years ago with eight kids, and it’s grown exponentially over the last couple of years” Thiel explains. “We’re very community minded and we put the players first and their development.”
“[It’s grown] due to the care we take with every individual that’s in our program, the programs that we set up, and the amount of practice time and time spent specifically on development of the individual.”
That community-minded attitude shows in those who run its programs.
“Every person in our program has either played college basketball or has been involved in high level basketball, so we all see that as a duty for us to give back to our community,” says Thiel, who played collegiate ball for Capilano and Quest.
Bballnationals has become a staple for the club in its annual summer schedule.
“It’s a chance to play teams from across the country. Here, when you play locally, all our teams play in the gold division in all the tournaments and there’s probably about 8 to 12 teams that play in all the tournaments, so you see a lot of the same programs all the time,” Thiel explains.
“Last year it was awesome. We had one of our individuals in the dunk contest, and the competition was the great, and the videos, and everything. It’s a world-class run event.”
They’re looking to put up a good showing at the tournament, but Thiel doesn’t want to say too much.
“There’s not much more to say than that, I mean we’ll let our play do the speaking when we get there.”
Bballnationals starts July 28th at the Langley Events Centre. BC Sports Hub will have exclusive coverage of the entire tournament — make sure to follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter so you don’t miss a thing!
Written by: Austin Cozicar