Up for the challenge
Sydney’s Chris Macphee ready to grow the sport as new president of Basketball Nova Scotia
SYDNEY — Like many parents, Chris Macphee devoted much time to coaching his children’s sports teams.
The Sydney resident began coaching his son’s basketball team at the elementary school level and, despite having played the sport himself growing up, it re-energized his passion for the game.
Macphee would later progress to coaching at the junior high and high school levels before volunteering as a coach with Basketball Cape Breton, where he eventually became the executive director.
Flash-forward several years and earlier this month Macphee was appointed the new president of Basketball Nova Scotia, a position the 51-year-old will hold for the next three years. He has plenty of experience with Basketball Nova Scotia, serving as the Cape Breton representative most recently.
As part of his term, Macphee is looking forward to continuing to grow the sport in the province, especially in areas outside of the Halifax Regional Municipality.
“One of the challenges of being outside of the Halifax area is finding basketball games and we’ve seen that issue in Cape Breton,” said Macphee. “I know people in the Yarmouth area and southern Nova Scotia are having those same problems, so it’s something I’d like to work on as president.”
Although other sports are having success with provincial leagues, Macphee doesn’t necessarily believe that structure would work for all age levels.
“I’d like to see us create some kind of league where we have regular games for the kids,” said Macphee. “One thing we know is not all players can commit to travelling all the time, so we don’t want to price some of our players out in saying we’re going to have a provincial league all the time.”
Seven years ago, Macphee, a married father of three, took over the role as executive director of Basketball Cape Breton following the departure of Kenneth Macqueen.
At the time, Macphee continued to work a full-time job while serving as the program’s executive director on a part-time basis. However, he quickly learned the dedication needed for the position.
“It evolved to the point where the position was 12 months of the year all the time,” laughed Macphee. “I ended up leaving my job and took on basketball full time.”
Macphee’s devotion proved to be worthwhile as the popularity of Basketball Cape Breton’s club teams grew with player registration. It eventually led to the creation of the Cape Breton Classic tournament, which features teams from across Atlantic Canada.
During his time with Basketball Cape Breton and as a board member with BNS, Macphee made valuable contacts in the basketball community, which he believes will add value to his new role.
Macphee, who takes over the presidency from co-presidents Kim Kennedy and Peter Crowther, believes basketball is thriving in Nova Scotia, noting the province’s success on the national level.
“The sport is growing across Canada and a lot of that has to do with the success of the Toronto Raptors and the national team,” said Macphee. “Basketball is an affordable sport and people are realizing anyone can play, you just need a ball and a pair of sneakers.”
The COVID-19 pandemic as left Basketball Cape Breton without a location to hold its programming at this time.
The organization was renting the Cape Breton Regional Municipality-owned Centennial Arena in Sydney; however, the Cape Breton Post has learned the CBRM has closed the facility.
Macphee acknowledged the challenges facing Basketball Cape Breton.
“They are not running now because they don’t have a place to play,” said Macphee. “The issue always goes back to the schools, they’re harder and harder to get into and the program can’t afford to be there.
“When (the teachers) work-to-rule was happening, the program was out of the schools, with COVID-19, the program is out for the schools — places like Halifax have 11 facilities outside of the schools that they can play in, we have zero.”
Macphee admitted it’s “extremely disappointing,” that the municipality doesn’t have a designated facility for indoor sports like basketball and volleyball to name a few.
“Cape Breton has been considered a hockey town,” said Macphee. “We don’t want to take away from hockey, but when you look at the balance of facilities in the municipality, there’s zero for basketball.”
Macphee said the organization has approached the municipality with information including the cost of a new facility and operations as well as how they wanted it run but haven’t be able to move forward since.
“I was happy to see that (newly-elected councillor) Glenn Paruch brought (the issue) to council two weeks ago and all but one person voted to look into it,” he said. “It’s progress and it’s a good sign.”
Although he’s from Cape Breton, Macphee is now focusing on helping players and programs across the province have success over the next three years.
“I’m looking forward to the challenge,” he said. “We have a good executive and board members and we’re focused on what we have to do to provide kids with opportunities in basketball (as were) past executives.”
Macphee said there’s lots of basketball talent at every corner of the province, noting the recent NBA debut for Bedford native Nate Darling.