Brooklyn Doiron, a Tseshaht and Ahousaht player on Alberni District Secondary’s senior boys basketball team, will be going into his second year playing at Totem, with a lot of hard work and a bigger role to fill.
“I'm excited because I have a way bigger role this year,” said Doiron. “I've gotten a lot better at basketball, [I’ve] been working on my game.”
Last year Doiron supported the team through the tournament as they stole the Totem title, 59-51, against defending champions Carihi.
“I'm hoping for the same outcome,” said Doiron. “We lost a couple players, but we still got a pretty good team, so we're hopefully going to get it done.”
“Last year’s group did an amazing job at winning Totem and it was a pretty exciting finals game,” said Steve Sperger, coach for the senior boys. “I know these boys are super excited to come back this year and try to repeat that.”
“There's been a lot of talk between the boys [about] starting a tradition,” said Sperger. “Winning it once is really not a tradition, winning it a second time is starting to create something.”
For Thomas Morris, an Ahousaht and Tse’khene player on the team, he has a “good feeling” about this upcoming Totem tournament.
“Definitely going to look forward to playing on the court,” said Morris. “It's going to be a good year.”
“Totem can get pretty crazy, as you can hear in the stands,” Morris said, noting that he also is looking forward to the spirit that Totem brings.
“I hope we bring good team energy,” said Doiron. “We won it last year, so I hope we win it again.”
“I've been around this group for two years,” said Sperger. “There's been a lot of growth; I've really seen some maturity with this group and I think that’s really going to help them at Totem.”
“They’re pretty tight knit, and I know every coach says that about their groups, but it's nice to see how they get along, how they play on and off the court together, and how they hang out, and how they support each other,” he added.
“I think they'll be successful at Totem because they support each other so much,” said Sperger.
