Wheatland Wildfire basketball returns

By John Watson Local Journalism initiative Reporter

Following a two-year hiatus, the Wheatland Wildfire is blazing back onto the local basketball scene and is excited to see local kids back on the court. 

Wheatland Wildfire Director, Matthew Laslo, said it will be a good opportunity for kids to be able to play outside of the regular school season.

“It’s nice to just see kids getting out and having opportunities to have some fun with sports and get some exercise and build teamwork skills. It’s just really nice to see kids getting to do stuff again,” said Laslo. “Wheatland Wildfire, we’re pretty much like a grassroots basketball association. We were started by myself and the principal of Strathmore High School, Kyle Larson.”

Wheatland Wildfire has been in operation for roughly 10 years, according to Laslo, save of course for the interruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The organization supports both boys’ and girls’ teams in age groups ranging from Grade 4, all the way to the high school circuit. 

“We usually run a general skills and drills introduction to the sport for the younger kids and that would be your Grades 4 – 7 kids who are just getting introduced to the sport and just getting strong enough to start shooting basketballs,” said Laslo. “We run all the way up to U13, U15 and high school teams for the spring season. We’ve run little spring leagues in town and a whole bunch of things depending on the turnout we have every year.”

The spring season was cancelled in March 2020 when COVID-19 took off. At the time, local teams were withdrawn from Calgary Minor Basketball, as sporting activities were not allowed to operate.

The Wildfire season is scheduled to start shortly after the conclusion of the regular high school season, which will run until Mar. 19, when the final game of provincials is played. 

“We usually don’t start until the high school season ends. I coach the senior boys’ basketball team at the high school and Kyle helps me coach. We (also) have some other coaches who help out a little bit here and there who are usually coaching school teams this time of year,” explained Laslo. “I’ve had a lot of interest though. I’ve never had this many emails about the season wondering about when we’re starting up again, so we’ll see in a couple weeks when we get going.”

The Wildfire typically play as part of the Alberta Youth Basketball Clubs and will attend tournaments in Strathmore, Chestermere and Calgary. 

“We’ve been chomping at the bit to try and get going as soon as we’ve been able to. Last year we had started floating the idea of a program and … higher restrictions (were immediately set in place),” said Laslo. “I think it’s really important in a community like ours to give kids opportunities to play sports and develop skills and learn to be good citizens and good people.”

More details can be found on the Wheatland Wildfire Facebook page, or by reaching out to Laslo via email (wheatlandwildfire@gmail.com).