A Salish Secondary grad has committed to play basketball for the Algoma University Thunderbirds.
Jesse Connolly, a 6’5 guard/small forward, was granted a tryout with the team early in the summer and was offered a scholarship shortly after that.
He headed out to Algoma, located in Sault Ste. Marie, to start working out with his new team in mid-August.
Tom Connolly, Jesse’s dad and Grade 12 basketball coach, said his son was thrilled to keep playing the game he loves.
“He was excited to be able to continue playing at a high level of basketball,” Tom said. “I believe he is the first student athlete in basketball at Salish (Secondary) to commit to a university basketball program. The school is still relatively new and a lot of schools still haven’t heard about us.”
Tom said Jesse and his older brother filmed games and sent video to a bunch of different schools in hopes of landing a scholarship for Jesse. Their work paid off when Algoma, a U-Sports school, invited Jesse out at the end of May for a tryout.
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“They put him through a few workouts and offered him a spot (on the team) right then,” added Tom. “Algoma’s a smaller school (about 3,000 undergrads) and they got a brand new coach halfway through last year, so they’re kind of rebuilding, and it’s actually a really good opportunity for him.”
Tom said the offer was bittersweet for him and his wife Nikki. Although they’re very happy for their son, they’ll miss seeing him everyday after school.
Jesse has been hitting the court for about two weeks now with his Thunderbird teammates and things are going well for the freshman player.
Tom noted Jesse is looking forward to playing this season with other kids who are there to focus on basketball—like-minded ball players who are all working towards the same goal.
“This year, we had games where we only had seven players show up to play,” explained Tom. “Some of the players had hockey or volleyball or another sport, so it was difficult for the players.”
Despite missing players at times, Tom said Jesse and the rest of the Salish Secondary senior boys basketball team had a great year.
“We actually had the best season the school has ever had,” Tom said. “In past years, the school has won one or two games in a season. But two years ago, we managed seven wins and 24 losses. And this year, we won 19 games and only had 14 losses.”
Jesse plans to take computer science classes this fall at Algoma.
editor@cloverdalereporter.com
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