Canadian Hoops Talk

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Interesting article in Ottawa Citizen regarding Ottawa developmental basketball program and Dave Smart's involvement. Copy below:

Some players simply love the lights. Others want to test themselves against higher levels of competition or are driven to improve their game in hopes of playing at the next level.

Still others are attracted by the cachet of playing for the city's foremost boy's basketball club program or hope it puts them on a fast track to becoming a Carleton Raven.

Yet, whatever the rationale for joining the Ottawa Guardsmen and opting to toil long hours in practice, the players seem to agree the rewards outweigh the sacrifices, particularly when the result is a provincial basketball title.

In fact, several members of the Guardsmen unit that captured the under-19 junior title at the provincial club championships last weekend by beating the Etobicoke Thunder 77-45 say that learning how to win and being part of a winning tradition were major factors in their decision to join what has become perhaps the pre-eminent boys' program in the province.

The 14-strong squad -- featuring starters Justin Shaver, Gavin Resch, Mehdi Tihani, Thomas Scrubb and Sean Stoqua -- captured the Guardsmen's 10th provincial title in 25 years of operation since being formed by Carleton men's basketball coach Dave Smart, Bill Arden, Gary Monsour and Barry Campbell (father of University of Western Ontario coach Brad Campbell) in 1985.

Tihani says, for him, the winning tradition was the attraction: "I mean, why not?"

Says Resch: "I definitely wanted a chance to win a provincial championship (and) I knew had to go to a program where there would be a few more guys who wanted to win with me."

Others, like Shaver, say the biggest wins come off the court and are measured in terms like work ethic, discipline, toughness and self

respect.

"At the end of Grade 8, I didn't want to play basketball any more," he says, "but Dave had a talk with me, put me under his wing and took me in. I think it's really changed me as a person."

More than 350 players have come through the Guardsmen program, which has evolved from a single unit into a program that supports teams in three divisions of provincial competition (midget, juvenile and junior) and four age divisions in the U.S. summer AAU circuit, including a prestigious tournament held annually in Las Vegas.

Among those who've honed their skills in the club are two-time Canadian Interuniversity Sport player of the year Osvaldo Jeanty, national senior team players Shawn Swords, Richard Anderson, Aaron Doornekamp and Ryan Bell, and a long list of contributors to Carleton's six Canadian Interuniversity Sport crowns -- including brothers Robbie and Mike Smart, Stuart Turnbull, Jafeth Maseruka and Rob Saunders.

Through the club's history, several university coaches have privately grumbled the program has evolved into little more than a "feeder system for the Ravens," a mechanism for Dave Smart to identify young talent and familiarize them with his systems so that they're more able to quickly contribute at Carleton.

Yet many of those same grumblers are now scrambling to develop equivalent club programs across the country.

For his part, Dave Smart sees no need to apologize. Many Guardsmen, he notes, have gone on to star at other universities -- "so we end up training kids for other programs, too. I mean, we get the kids who like me and we get the kids who don't like me."

But there's no question the club serves Carleton's interest, he concedes.

"It really helps because we can get them for five or six years and teach them what it takes to get to the next level."

Therein lay several other unique elements of the program. Unlike some clubs, which field teams at every age level for both genders, the Guardsmen focus their efforts on elite-level boys, though they have occasionally run girl's teams, schooling such luminaries as former WNBA star Kelly Schumacher.

They also require all players to participate in charitable activities, such as working at a camp for underprivileged kids or attending fundraising initiatives like a recent "jump rope event" to raise money for heart research. "I want them to learn to give back to the community," Dave Smart says.

Almost as unique is the relatively low membership fees, which range from $150 to $300 per year (depending upon the age category and number of scheduled tournaments) and pale in comparison to fees charged in sports like hockey.

And even then, kids whose families can't afford the fee aren't precluded from joining because "Dave finds a way for them to work off the fee" by, for example, refereeing at a wheelchair basketball tournament, explains club treasurer Colin McCleery.

McCleery says the Guardsmen have an annual operating budget of between $45,000 and $50,000, generated largely through corporate sponsorships or summer basketball camps, primarily in the Ottawa Valley.

The club also earns about $6,000 per year because Dave Smart "donates all speaking fees that he earns or money that he gets from participating in a coaching clinic to the club," he adds. "He just asks everybody to write the cheque to the Guardsmen."

It's all part of what Shawn McCleery, who coached the championship junior unit, describes as the Guardsmen culture, in which ex-players coach, donate money or volunteer time to help handle the logistical nightmare of organizing tournaments, gym time, equipment, uniforms and other ancillary needs related to the program.

Once a Guardsmen, always a Guardsmen, he says.

"I feel I owe that to Dave and the Guardsmen because of everything that was done for me when I was a player."

The Guardsmen are "more than just basketball," Shaver adds. "It becomes your second family."

Read more: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/sports/Guardsmen+like+second+family/3121596/story.html#ixzz0qBHaNgO3