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CHSS will offer basketball as a new course next school year

Next school year, grade 11 and 12 students living in Prince Rupert will have the option of taking basketball as an elective course.

Basketball is undoubtedly the most popular sport in Prince Rupert, and starting next school year grade 11 and grade 12 students attending Charles Hays Secondary School will have the opportunity to take basketball as a course.

“Basketball is of huge interest to students in this community. We’re very pleased to see this particular course being developed that has the rigger and the requirements that are necessary for a board authorized course,” said Superintendent Lynn Hauptman after the board of education approved the class at last week’s monthly school board meeting.

Students taking Basketball 11/12 will have eight units to complete that will require 120 hours of instruction. The units will consist of team building strategies/rules of the game, footwork, passing and dribbling, and pivoting, offense and defense, individual skills/team concepts, rebounding, physical fitness training, care and prevention of injuries, and a community project. Students who are successful in the course will earn four of the twenty-eight credits of electives needed to graduate. This course will not count towards the 16 grade twelve level credits mandatory for graduation.

Students will be graded on their demonstration and application of the skills and rules of the game, on their fitness conditioning, technique and improvement, their community or middle school involvement, coaching assignments, and written and oral tests.

Mel Bishop developed the course, and will be teaching it. Bishop has 32 years of coaching experience in AA and AAA High School Levels, with two of his AA teams being winning the provincial championships. Bishop played in the Canadian Intercollegiate Athletic Union (CIAU) for five years, and is a CIAU All-Canadian Player, with Bishop previously playing professionally overseas for two years.

Bishop’s Basketball 11/12 would meet requirements set by the Ministry of Education, with similar basketball-based courses being successful in communities across British Columbia. The Ministry of Education encourages boards of education to offer locally relevant courses, such as this one, to students.

The new course will not have any financial implications, as the district already has all of the equipment needed to teach the course.