STS scores big with the CAIS U-13 Basketball tournament

By Larry Clark, Director of Student Services 

I am always proud to say that I am part of the STS community, but it is recent events like the CAIS U-13 basketball tournament that we hosted last week that really emphasize that feeling. STS hosted over 250 young basketball players and their coaches from independent schools across Canada. STS is the ONLY Canadian Accredited Independent School(CAIS) to host and billet these many athletes! It is a true testament to the strength of our community when we have well over 60 families open their homes to host these 11 and 12-year-old boys visiting our school. Almost one-third of our entire school faculty and staff were directly involved in this fabulous event.

All the visiting coaches commented on the volunteerism they witnessed and the hospitality that was shown to them. Many commented on the “positive feel” of the School and this is all thanks to the contributions of our community! Some highlights for the visiting teams:

 The Elementary School classes each adopted a team so that they had someone in the stands cheering for them. Many classes made signs and wrote personalized cheers for THEIR team and most teams found time to visit their “fans” in their classrooms. 

 All the coaches were presented with cowboy hats so they could be “honorary Calgarians”!

 We had almost 50 students volunteer to be score keepers, even on Saturday!

 We had over 60 families offer to host athletes.

 Bill and Chris Trickett visited STS on Saturday to present an award named after their son, Jeffrey Trickett, who we lost in the tragic avalanche in 2003. The recipient of this award is STS' very own Elliot P. '24

 POSTS created and stocked “snack baskets” for each team to keep these growing boys nourished.

 Teams mixed and mingled during lunch and formed new friendships.

 Players on the sidelines cheered on their “new friends”.

While so many from our parent community stepped up to make this event special there are some that deserve special recognition:

 Tara Black, President of POSTS who helped in too many areas to remember!

 Caroline Pierce-Strangemann who spearheaded billeting and organizing host families.

 Shelley el Baroudi who helped Mr. Ken Zelez with a myriad of tasks for the on-court activities.

 Dean and Paula Patry who helped keep track of the on-court activity, update scores and team standings; help with lunches for the athletes and many other tasks. 

 Teresa Klotz, Shannon Williams, Cecilia Hadwin-Guardiola, Maggie Jegen, Jen Barber, Sara Lumby, Yan Song, Lore Merlo for creating the snack baskets, serving lunch and being there to help in any way needed!

Events such as this fill me with Spartan Pride!