By Olivia Fernandez
The acoustics in this gym enhance every last sound, from the squeaks of shoes on the court to the heavy breaths coming from each player’s mouth.
After they run the 10th lap, stretch their limbs and complete their last set of pushups, these senior boys finally have the basketball at their fingertips and are ready to face one of their most challenging seasons.
Along with the beginning of another academic year comes another season of competitive basketball for the Immaculata Saints senior boys’ basketball team. Remaining disciplined in the classroom and on the court will be this year’s goal.
Vice principal James Kent says he wants these players to prove their focus “on and off the court.”
Many will graduate this year and Kent says he hopes to have some of them identified for a couple of university sports. Most of these schools will look for both marks and talent.
Wendy Schlieman, a job coach at Immaculata, says she is there to make sure that playing basketball doesn’t compete with the players’ schoolwork. Schlieman explains it is important to instil in the students, that if their schoolwork isn’t acceptable, they won’t be on the court.
“They are student athletes,” she recalls of Kent saying. “They are students first and athletes second.”
Nemanja Baletic, a 17-year old 6’6 shooting guard, has been playing the game since he was five. Baletic says focusing on school and basketball is important because he is now beginning to explore his options for universities and grades are just as crucial in being accepted into the school of his choice. Baletic says basketball is a way of life for him and that he will continue to play at university and still work towards a degree.
“I want to study medicine,” he says. “I want to get an undergrad in physio so I have a base and something to fall back on if basketball doesn’t work.”
Eli Aramouni, a speedy point guard who has been on the team for three years, is also dealing with being a student athlete. He says he hopes to study and play basketball, preferably at Concordia University in Montreal.
For now, Aramouni says that the team has “got to be organized and disciplined, not just on the court.” His expectations for this year are nothing less than the provincial title, at the Double A division under the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations (OFSAA).
Both Baletic and Aramouni say they are hoping to finish what they started. Last season, the Saints won the Ottawa East division.
At the quarter-finals, the Saints were defeated by underdogs Holy Trinity high school, putting off their hopes of competing for a title until next season. Aramouni says that many things contributed to the loss, from a lack of focus to plays not being properly set up. Aramouni says eventually players began to panic and blame each other.
Baletic doesn’t want to repeat last season and says he wants to sit his team down and tell them personally, “it’s war every time and you have to survive.”
This season, the Saints have a new head coach who is all too familiar with playing basketball at this level and juggling aspects of student life. It was only a few years ago when John Kulwartin played for St. Patrick high school’s basketball team where he competed in OFSAA. He then went to play for the provincial team in 2001 and with the Carleton University Ravens in his first year, until he was injured.
Now, he can no longer compete and is proof that basketball can never be first on a student athlete’s list
“I come from where these kids come from,” he says. Remembering his high school days he says that his team “was good but they weren’t disciplined.” He notes that there are three things that lead to a successful year as a student and basketball player, “spirit, discipline and dedication.”
Kulwartin has high hopes to win this season. He says that he wants to be a friend to these kids, but also the one to tell them when they need to get down to work.
“I want at the end of the season for these kids to have higher marks than they had last year and to feel good about themselves, feel like they’ve got something out of it.”