I haven’t seen X play in years, but a decade ago I went to every game. I grew up a hundred meters from St. FXU. The Stingers? I got my degree from Concordia less than a year ago. My hometown team versus my Alma Mater.
Head coach Steve Konchalski is on the court, getting ready for the match. He’s tall and lanky. It’s not hard to tell he was a baller in his young days. For years he held the record for the highest scoring in a Canadian International Sport championship match – a record he set in 1965, before there were 3-point shots. He has the most wins of any men’s CIS coach in history. Without going into too much detail, suffice it to say that you can’t find a more established and revered figure in Canadian basketball. From X’s website:
“Internationally, Steve served for 16 years as Assistant Coach of Canada’s National Team (including three Olympic Games) and was Head Coach of Team Canada for four years (1995-98). He has been inducted into the Acadia Sports Hall of Fame, the Canadian Basketball Hall of Fame, the StFX Sports Hall of Fame and the Nova Scotia Sports Hall of Fame.”
On the court, Steve is a ball of fire. He screams and flails his hands in the air at bad calls, he shouts like a bull horn during the match, pacing along the sidelines, red-faced and in his glory. The image is in almost comical contrast to his natural demeanour. In person, he’s one of the calmest people I’ve ever encountered. I spent years hanging around his house as a teenager, being best buds with his son Chris. In all that time, no matter what kind of stupidity we got up to, I never saw Steve lose his cool or raise his voice once.
I should probably mention here that just about everyone in my hometown calls him Coach K. Such is Coach K’s influence on the game in Canada, that John Dore, the Stingers’ coach, was actually recruited to play ball by Coach K many years ago. As the two men face off, it’s like seeing the young Jedi come back to fight the master.
I would like to tell you that I was torn between X and Concordia, but I can’t shake my pride in a team I cheered with for so many years. The Stingers, at the time ranked 4th nationally, put up a fight, but the game ended with a whimper at 88-77 for X. X went on to take the Rod Shoveller championship that weekend. They were later knocked out of the AUS in March.
Head coach Steve Konchalski is on the court, getting ready for the match. He’s tall and lanky. It’s not hard to tell he was a baller in his young days. For years he held the record for the highest scoring in a Canadian International Sport championship match – a record he set in 1965, before there were 3-point shots. He has the most wins of any men’s CIS coach in history. Without going into too much detail, suffice it to say that you can’t find a more established and revered figure in Canadian basketball. From X’s website:
“Internationally, Steve served for 16 years as Assistant Coach of Canada’s National Team (including three Olympic Games) and was Head Coach of Team Canada for four years (1995-98). He has been inducted into the Acadia Sports Hall of Fame, the Canadian Basketball Hall of Fame, the StFX Sports Hall of Fame and the Nova Scotia Sports Hall of Fame.”
On the court, Steve is a ball of fire. He screams and flails his hands in the air at bad calls, he shouts like a bull horn during the match, pacing along the sidelines, red-faced and in his glory. The image is in almost comical contrast to his natural demeanour. In person, he’s one of the calmest people I’ve ever encountered. I spent years hanging around his house as a teenager, being best buds with his son Chris. In all that time, no matter what kind of stupidity we got up to, I never saw Steve lose his cool or raise his voice once.
I should probably mention here that just about everyone in my hometown calls him Coach K. Such is Coach K’s influence on the game in Canada, that John Dore, the Stingers’ coach, was actually recruited to play ball by Coach K many years ago. As the two men face off, it’s like seeing the young Jedi come back to fight the master.
I would like to tell you that I was torn between X and Concordia, but I can’t shake my pride in a team I cheered with for so many years. The Stingers, at the time ranked 4th nationally, put up a fight, but the game ended with a whimper at 88-77 for X. X went on to take the Rod Shoveller championship that weekend. They were later knocked out of the AUS in March.
Words by Thomas Smith
Graphic design Stephen Gillis
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