"Hubbs" City Hoopster

I attened an Indian Basketball tourney at the Alberni Athletic Hall last weekend. It was hosted by the Hesquiaht Lady Braves and was open to both mens and womens teams. No, they didn't play each other.

It was a pretty good tournament. Vancouver fielded a pretty good ladies team. They had a player who could drop anchor in the post and nobody was going to move her. She wasn't one dimensional either and had two or three moves she mixed up and used. There was a young guy too named Clint from the "Nanaimo-Bell Bella" team that had a perfect stroke on his shot and could drain it from three-point land. There was nothing flashy or "AND-ONE'sh" about his game, just good all-around fundamentals. He's going to be a good one.

The mens games were fast paced and competitive. The ex-Mal-U Ballers looked sharp, they should be having played college ball. It's funny but you can spot college players. They looked like they had better basic, fundamental skills than other players at the tourney, especially on D. I heard or read where they were referred to as "Jason Hubbs Team."

Jason Hubbs played highschool basketball here in Port Alberni and went on to play ball at Malaspina University for a few years. I read he dropped out for a year or two and travelled around to find himself and decide what he wanted to do with his life. Afterward he returned to Malaspina with new resolve, took up college ball again and lit the BC College league on fire. I'm told he looked completely like another player. The players trying to check him weren't armed with his new found resolve and got torched regularly. I watched him play in a college game last year and it looked to me like grass gave him a harder time when he mowed it than his checks did that night. He left one poor boy all sprawled out on the floor after putting an ankle-breaking move on him.

The moral of the story: when you decide to do something and you mean it then it gets done.

I don't know what Hubbs involvement was with this indian team that was playing last weekend but I'm impressed with it. I'm impressed that a star player like that who lit the college league on fire has the time, and mabye a place in his heart for the bro's. That means more than any skill he might have. He's not one of these hot shot players who don't have the time for anyone, let alone anyone indian. You'll find that among some indian players as well. They could maybe benefit from a soul-searching trip too.

Maybe there's no reason at all for Hubbs lending his name to the team. Maybe he got a couple bucks, a case of beer, or a hot phone number out of it. Who knows. I don't think so though. A guy who takes time away and does some soul searching usually finds deeper meaning to himself and life beyond basketball. And about others too.

It might have been just the name of a team on a jersey to most last weekend, but I like to think it was about more than just that. Meaningful things usually are.