By Clint Lomax
I was sort of surprised when I found Thompson Park as easy as I did. I had expected to be lost for a ½ hour instead of the 10 minutes it turned out to be. Unmistakable by the arched design at the front of the establishment; the many tents popping up in my wake were a dead giveaway that I had arrived. I flashed back to the last time I played at Thompson Park, which was at the Mad Game Tourney back in the early 2000s. Felt a little funny playing the 25th anniversary of the Dolphin Park Tourney on a two court property, but I hadn’t played in the Dolphin since 2005.
Initially, I thought my assignment would be to relieve our big men for a brief minute or two, just so they could go back out and dominate. As game time loomed, it was evident that we were going to be short on “height” till Saturday. On the tip, it was evident that we were in for a knockdown drag out on the boards vs Aman Heran’s Athelite Squad. I’d say the average height for our team for that game was 6’1”, and the average height for the Athelite team was 6’6”! Even though we lost by 9, I was proud of my team for two facts. 1) That we didn’t lose by double digits, and 2) our team battled on the boards like the other team was the hunted. It immediately gave me some relief that the next day would yield positive results.
Day two brought reinforcements but also unexpected battles of attrition. With our 6’8” young-legged reinforcement in Herm, we had an 11 man roster. Mostly built of quick, saavy, and rugged guards: Gramae, Tyler, Lonzell, Nedim and G-dub. The rest of us fell in to place behind these 5 guys with major contributions from Kuba, , Mark Starkey, Jessie and Reese A.K.A. Shannon Brown! The first game vs Reign (an Olympia, WA based team) were short handed but more than capable. With some early sharp shooting from NBA range, we found ourselves getting buried from beyond normal outdoor launch pad range. Yet with that early adversity, the scrappy Vancouver Metro team fought back. With the help of solid offensive/defensive rebounding and a bunch of fast break points, we were able to wear The Reign down in the end to escape with a single digit victory.
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Something that I didn’t remember seeing before at any Dolphin Park Tourney was a Women’s Division! Not just any old women’s division, but a highly competitive group. Local players from SFU, University of Washington players, and at least one player that was drafted to the WNBA battled it out right alongside their male counter parts. As I rest for the next battle, I noticed a familiar sight. The local residences were filling in to get ready for the battles that were yet to be played. One of the long time staples at all Dolphin Park Tourneys are the residents! Not to mention the beer garden contingency.
The second match of the day was against a familiar foe in Runnin’ Rebels led by Steve Lee. Steve is the founder of the West Coast Basketball League that has been going strong for a number of years. As a member of the X-Men, I have participated in that league for number of years winning the Title in 07. I gave as much of a scouting report as I could on the team they were fielding, and I paid dividends early. Our running style was a problem for their big lineup, but they used their length to keep the game tight. After a few unnecessary elbows and eye level swings, my “Inner Artest” came out briefly in this contest. After I was able to get my point across, the young legs on our team took over and pushed the lead to double figures. Even though we claimed victory, it was a shaky one that had our margin shaved to 4 in the end. After the game, handshakes were exchanged and a brief conversation with a former teammate of the X-Clan in Virgil brought things back to earth.
In our third game vs the N.W.O., we were out of sorts missing our only big man to his birthday party plans. Losing by 9 at half really got us to focus in and pull out a win. With the help of their best player getting a 4th foul and adding a technical foul to give him his 5th, sort of gave us an edge. However, they still had a 6’8” post guy and good guard continuity going, which kept us down by 7 late in the game. Late in the game, an N.W.O. player dropped one of our players, and was called for an intentional foul. This was the break we needed, because after that came an onslaught of fast break points that gave us the lead with less than 1 min left in the game. Down 3 with less than 30 seconds left in the game, the N.W.O. desperately catapulted several 3 point shots to no success. At the final horn, Vancouver Metro escaped with a 3 point victory and a berth into the final day’s playoffs!
At 38 years and 359 days old, my body was giving me all kind of signals telling me to stay in bed! I counted 4 foot cramps the night before, even after stretching 2 separate times before I went to bed the previous night. I felt a little better knowing we were getting out 6’8” guy back today, and I brought along my wife to watch her old man try to enact some semblance of his former basketball self. Our draw in the first round of the playoffs drew the legendary Meralomas squad. Known for years as an elite band of collegiate and professional athletes, they had been successful for over a decade in just about every league or tournament they have participated in. This band of ballers were all young, but ultra athletic! From the tip it was a dog fight! Back and forth the scoring and aggressive defense shifted momentum on almost every possession. The Meralomas were starting to creep away with the game until I was confronted with another “semi Incredible Hulk” moment. This one lasted a little longer than the one from yesterday, but it had the same effect on my team. We rallied in the middle of the 2nd half to take the lead, but it was still within a 2 point margin late in the game. With a few clutch layups and margin boosting free throws, we were able to pull out the victory by the skin of our teeth. After the game, I had made some new friends with my “jekyll and hyde” transformation. I guess I could of made new friends without that, but the bizarre behavior may have reminded them of Dennis Rodman or something!
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In the semis, we would go up against the X-Falcons who had won this tourney 2 out of the last 3 years. This team led by Randy Nohr also had notable names on the team such as: UBC great Kyle Watson, Eli Mara (top high school phenom), Andrew Sturgeon, Clay “Clark Kent” Crellin, and another Dolphin Park legend in Navi to name a few. The experience at the guard position was evident and they took full advantage of it early. However, our young group of scrappers would not die, and matched every spectacular bucket made by the X-Falcons with a fast break bucket of our own. In the end, the X-Falcon veterans were too much for our upstart band of bandits. Yet the positive that we could take from this hard loss was that we only lost by single digits. The X-Falcons had been blowing everybody out by double digits, and it sort of lessened the blow of being eliminated without our full team intact.
Overall, the 25th Anniversary of the Dolphin Tournament was a success as I expected it would be! Shout outs to Bruce Watson, Bira Bindra, T.J. Johal, Tony Wong-Hen, and all of the other volunteers and sponsors that helped make this tournament possible. Want to acknowledge a few of my 206 buddies that made the trip: Brent Merrit, Reggie Paul, Ed Haskins, Antione, J.T., Al Snow, Shep, and Jeff Day. To the ones that couldn’t make it: Jamal Crawford, Brandon Roy, Rozelle (Jailhouse) Ellis, Tim (Buckets) Ellis, Damon Williams, Will Conroy, Nate (The Great) Robinson, and Brent Williams. Hope you guys can make it next year. One last group of people I want to mention: Ben George (former Byrne Creek Secondary Player of the Year), Jordan Yu, Chad Warren, Virgil, and a number of other people I hadn’t seen in a while. It was good to see all of you again, and it was good to be seen. See you next year, hopefully in a “Coaching Capacity”!
