Wildfire basketball spreading within Wheatland County

By Tyler Lowey, Times Reporter

The Wheatland Wildfire basketball program is becoming self-sustaining.
The Wildfire program wrapped up their three-month season by hosting a day chock-full of games June 9 at Strathmore High School.
The program, which houses a U13, U15 boys and girls team, along with a U17 boys team, saw some new faces behind the bench this season.
Matt Laslo has been a coach with the Wildfire since 2010 and Kyle Larson predates him by a few years. But now each year, the two veteran coaches are joined by new but familiar faces.
“It’s a developmental league for the players in Strathmore, but it’s also a developmental league for a lot of our coaches,” said Laslo. “It gives them an opportunity to run a team for the first time, learn how to lead and give them a chance to see the other side of the sport.”
Joining Laslo and Larson this year was Josh Filipionek, Karley Larson, Dan Mulder, Cooper Nelson and Brianna Kennedy.
All five coaches are examples and products of the Wildfire program. Karley was there for the program’s inauguration, Nelson has been playing since he was seven years old, Mulder has played in the program the past three seasons and Filipionek has been with the Wildfire since Grade 6.
“I thought it was a great way to give back to the community and be a role model for the next generation of basketball players like the coaches were for me three years ago,” said Mulder, a Grade 10 student who played on the Strathmore High School Spartans senior boys’ basketball team this year. “I have never coached a team before, but I think it is a great way to get involved with it, so I can coach a team when my basketball career ends one day.”
The new coaching staff helps out at practice and all games.
Thursdays, the Wildfire run skills and development sessions; on Tuesday, they host practices that always end in scrimmages. The weekends are reserved for game and tourney play. Each team played at least 10 games this season in the surrounding Calgary area.
“Seeing the development of the kids is the funnest part for me. They are all so enthusiastic to learn and practice, it really makes it fun for everyone involved,” said Laslo, who also coaches the boys’ senior program at SHS. “I think this program does a great job of helping the development of kids all over Strathmore, which hopefully makes the school programs better down the line.”
There were no trophies or year-end awards handed out with the Wildfire program. The kids were exposed to more and different styles of coaching, all while having fun. The real reward will come later on, when the players in the program give back to the basketball community one day down the road.