It's been said that the longest journey in the world starts by simply putting one foot ahead of the other.
After competing in the Division 9 Basketball Ontario provincials two years ago, the Sudbury Jam 2008 Boys have taken the approach to heart, steadily working their way forward, one tournament to the next, one season after the other.
As an U11 grouping last year, the team found themselves part of the Division 6 field by the time that April rolled around. This year has been no different.
The Jam earned bronze at their very first tournament of the season, knocking off the host team by nine points in the battle for third place, and beating teams that currently slot into the Division 3/4 bracket along the way.
A 3-1 start at the IEM Tournament in Aurora in late November would give way to a tough semi-final loss to IEM Markham, with the northern crew awarded third place thanks to an earlier victory over the remaining semi-finalist.
Finally, a couple of weeks back, coaches Josh Brohart and Ben Smith and company broke through with a silver medal performance, placing second in a shoot-out style tournament in Markham that would see teams play a straight-forward round robin format.
The Jam opened with a 50-39 win over the East York Eagles, but suffered their one and only loss against the Barrie Royals (39-30), a team that has consistently maintained their ranking as a Division 3 entry come time for the all-Ontario playdowns in the spring.
Perhaps it was the confidence of understanding their increased competitiveness, but the Sudbury squad wrapped things up with solid back-to-back victories over the Hardwood Kings (43-33) and the Orangeville Hawks (53-33), the latter having beaten the Jam in overtime in each of the past two seasons.
After the Christmas/Holiday break, the U12 boys will get ready for tournament action in both Ottawa and Toronto, as well as preparing for an event that they will be hosting in Sudbury in March.
The 2019-2020 edition of the team includes Keegan Adair, Kieran Adams, Kobi Elundu, Raphael Belzile, Sullivan Smith, Bradley Cothill, Cade Kirwan, Christian Wreegbo, Dylan Nelson, Ethan Dobson, Ian Ziegler and Judah Brohart.
