The basketball tradition at Chemainus Secondary School soared in the 1960s, 1970s and late 1990s-early 2000s and then basically imploded ever since over nearly two decades.
Casey Parsons’ arrival at the school three years ago brought a revival for the program and could mark the survival of basketball to rebound and reconnect with the past. Parsons has an extensive background as a player, coach and educator that goes hand-in-hand with teaching the players what it takes to be successful.
You can already see the difference he’s made coaching the current group of Junior B boys basketball players. They’ve shown immense improvement from last season and many of them were entirely new to the game, from an organizational aspect, at least.
“He brings a lot of experience with set plays,” said assistant coach Graeme Arkell, who’s enjoying working with him and helping to bring the program to another level.
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Parsons, 34, said he grew up with a hoop at home in Duncan, but Grade 8 was his first year of playing organized basketball at Mount Prevost School. But he credits Scott MacLeod with really bringing basketball to the forefront during his Grade 9 year at Prevost.
“He walked through the door and said ‘we’re having basketball teams’ and brought the basketball culture,” said Parsons.
There were two Grade 9 teams at the school at that time, with 30 kids eager to play.
“Basketball even on the Island at the time, it was all through schools – not like soccer,” Parsons pointed out.
He honed his own skills in addition to the limited basketball within the schools by attending T-Bird Hoop Camps at Cowichan Secondary School before beginning the three-year process in Grade 10 of becoming a prominent T-Bird himself.
Parsons played on the junior boys team at Cowichan first, coached by Graham Scargall and Jason Crawford, who remain two of his best friends today.
Parsons valued the opportunity to learn from someone like Crawford, who spent five years playing basketball at UVic.
“He came up and coached us in Grade 9 and 10 with Graham,” Parsons noted. “That was neat to have a university player that was out there.”
His Grade 11 year was a huge season for Parsons, as the Cowichan Thunderbirds qualified for the 2006 provincial AAA high school championships at the Agrodome in Vancouver. He helped the team to a sixth-place finish that still stands as the second best placing ever by a T-Bird team at the provincials.
“I was a role player, got lots of minutes,” he pointed out.
Parsons benefited from the older boys on the team, in particular Andrew Weisner and Mitch Holloway.
“Andrew, he was probably the hardest working player in the province,” Parsons praised. “Mitch, he was one of the best shooters in the provincials.
“We were a very close group. A few of the guys are still my best friends. It ends up being way bigger.”
That’s one of the qualities he’s stressing with the current Chemainus Cougars that they’re not just teammates and their bond will carry on long after basketball’s over.
“They’re all buddies,” he observed. “They want to be here doing this. It’s not a chore for them. They enjoy it.”
Parsons’ second season with the T-Birds senior boys under the direction of coach Sandeep Heer didn’t go quite as well, with the team failing to qualify for provincials amid a tough crop of Island competitors.
After graduating from high school in 2007, Parsons went on to play two seasons of college hoops with the Camosun College Chargers.
During the 2007-08 season, “I didn’t play a ton, came off the bench,” he said. “We had a really strong team.”
The Chargers came third in the province that year, but didn’t quite make it to nationals.
It was a substantial difference for Parsons going back for his second season at Camosun, with the team losing several senior players.
“I went from maybe playing a couple of minutes my first year to starting,” he pointed out.
Parsons had started taking some university transfer courses, with the thought of teaching one day, but then took a couple of years off to make some money and travel.
He went back to Camosun to upgrade his courses and then enrolled in the education program at UVic in 2012, graduating in 2017 with his Exercise Science, Physical and Health Education degree.
While completing his schooling, Parsons went back to Cowichan Secondary to coach the junior T-Birds with Graham Scargall and then in 2017 joined basketball guru Lucky Walia on the senior team. Parsons remained with the senior boys at Cowichan for four seasons until he came to Chemainus.
His first teaching job was at Alexander Elementary with a Grade 4-5 class. The COVID years caused some disruptions, but Parsons has now been at Chemainus three years, with the last two in a full-time position.
As the school’s athletic director, Parsons has worked hard on growing the basketball and volleyball programs, for starters, with some track-and-field. Arkell had some drop-in basketball going and Parsons took it a step further with a basketball class.
“The interest was already here,” he added. “It was finding a way to structure it and teach them the right things.”
The students currently in Grade 9 have been coached by Parsons and Arkell since Grade 7.
“It’ll be neat if we can keep them playing together when they get into their Grade 11-12 years,” Parsons enthused.
Getting them into the Junior B league has been successful for now, with hopes of qualifying for single A provincials when the players are in Grade 11.
“It takes a few years of playing together,” Parsons conceded.
He was pleased and surprised to become aware of the school’s basketball history and wants to incorporate that as a motivating tool.
“I feel like it’s a little bit forgotten,” he indicated. “My dad told me all about Billy Robinson. I didn’t realize who he was or that he was from Chemainus.”
It’s all part of the learning process Parsons is establishing with his players.
“They’re definitely learning,” he stressed. “Their individual basketball skills and understanding the game has improved, for sure.”