TYSON TAYLOR
sports@pqbnews.com
It’s been an up and down start to the season for the Grade 10 junior boys at KSS. After a season opening win against Nanaimo Christian School 35 - 28, the Grade 10 Kondors had a rough tournament at Dover Bay, but managed to bounce back and have improved to two and one on their season, beating Woodlands last week 49 – 26 and losing a close one to John Barsby 35-32.
“We had a rough tournament at Dover Bay,” head coach Kyle Dykstra of the KSS junior boys team said. “We managed to get a win in the finale of that tournament, so that seemed to lift the boys spirits and helped us get some momentum heading into the game against Woodlands.”
The Kondors are coming off their first tournament of the season where they struggled with their first two games, but won their third in convincing fashion. Playing short handed their first two games, the Kondors lost to Lambrick Park out of Victoria (one of the top ranked teams in the province) and division members Wellington Wildcats. The final game of that tournament saw them blow out a Cowichan team by 70 points.
German exchange student Daniel Roder has been playing great, bringing some offensive talent to a squad that made it to the Islands last season. Roder and Connor Haywood, 15, from Qualicum Beach, have been a pleasant addition to the team this year, according to head coach Kyle Dykstra.
“Both Daniel and Connor have proved to be a dangerous combination out there. Daniel brings a good awareness to our team on offense and Connor has the size and athletic ability to be a game changer down low. Add that to what we have from last season and we’ve got a good thing going here,” Dykstra said about the new players on his squad.
All in all, it’s been a good start to the season for the Grade 10 team, who are going to continue to practice over the Christmas break.
“We’ve got some things we can improve on for sure, so we’ll be taking advantage of a few practices during their break. It’s been nice though, we’ve had a good number of guys improve from last year coming into this year, so hopefully we can bring it all together here heading back into the games after the break.”
The Grade 10 boys will hit the court in the new year with players back in action Jan. 8 hosting the Wellington Wildcats out of Nanaimo. Tip off is scheduled for 6:30pm.