A wish the Fredericton Freeze has been pining for has been granted.
The Maritime Women’s Basketball Association’s Freeze will have a junior program running under its flagship name
The Fredericton Junior Freeze will begin play this spring for girls entering Grade 9 through 11.
‘We’ve been looking to dig deeper into our community with youth programs, but this specific age group is something that really has us excited,’ said Freeze general manager, Brad Janes. ‘That age bracket can see a big fall off from participation if a player does not make her high school team. There aren’t many options. We see young players go through Basketball New Brunswick’s system from five to 14 and then, doors start closing. We’re only too happy to lend our name and hopefully start a new wave of players continuing to play.’
There are three teams in the MWBA which offer youth programming including the Port City Fog of Saint John and Halifax Thunder.
Those programs feature players in younger divisions.
Miramichi Hericanes are anticipating launching a girls’ team for players from Grade 8 to 10 this year.
‘This is not about developing players to one day play for the Freeze, but it’s about building and building within our community,’ said Janes. ‘The group behind this idea is well known and our organization couldn’t be happier to help them any way possible.’
Charlene Woolaver is the head coach of the new program. The former University of New Brunswick Reds star has coached at Leo Hayes with the Lions for a number of years, returning to take over the varsity program a couple of years ago.
Bev Steeves, another Reds’ alumni who has coached for a number of years, will be Woolaver’s assistant. Kelly Seamans-Aitken and Amy Whytewood-Hughes are co-managers
‘We are all really looking forward to seeing this come together,’ said Woolaver. ‘Amy and Kelly have been such a huge help for Bev and I in getting all the particulars done. We’re looking at picking up tournaments and are quickly realizing there are a lot of options. I’m really happy that we can get kids into the gym and playing this time of year. Any time we can stress fundamentals and build basketball IQ is a perk.’
The youth program, which will fall under Basketball New Brunswick’s umbrella, will wear Freeze colours.