First year for Ball Stars
Grade-school hoopsters get a chance to play on Wilfrid Laurier court
WATERLOO — Onyx Spark shone like a nine-year-old gem.
And not just because the soft-spoken Grade 4 hoopster sank three or four baskets for his Winston Churchill Public School Bulldogs of Waterloo during Saturday’s eight-school Junior Ball-Star Games tournament at Wilfrid Laurier University.
He also, uh, “spark-led” among 220 junior-age public school students thanks to his fabulous coif. We’re talking bluetinged bangs to match his blue Bulldogs T-shirt. His last name and a dyed-orange basketball were expertly shaved into the lower half-court of his hair.
Who’s his barber? The same Waterloo stylist who sheared and shaped the Maple Leafs mane of the infamous Dart Guy. He got his terrific tourney trim last Tuesday.
“It’s been fun,” Spark said of the inaugural event, created by Churchill youth worker Katherine Katsambrokos to help kids build character and confidence through sport. “It’s kind of scary to go out on the Laurier basketball court. It’s so big. Our school gym is smaller.”
But Spark, who also plays hockey, went out there despite the intimidating gym for an event with a reassuring list of sponsors including Waterloo Regional Police. Spark remembered to share the ball and call for passes. He even sat beside a Laurier men’s basketball player. Spark didn’t know the player’s name, only that he was really tall.
Tall is nice. But Spark is a rock star from a family of precious gems.
His sister Jade, like the green stone of calm, is 17. His brother Jett, like the dark Jet gemstone, is 15. His mom Crystal clearly had all this planned out, right? “It wasn’t planned,” she said. “We liked the name Jade and called her Jade. We had our second baby and we called him Jett, but I didn’t know it was a stone. Then a friend told me it was a stone. We thought that was cool. Our third baby for sure was going to be a stone, Onyx or Ruby.”
So, along came a boy named Onyx, who’d one day like to play basketball for Laurier.
But what about dad? Does he have a precious mineral of a prime moniker? Perhaps Garnet or Jasper? Maybe Neil as in diamond? Or even Mick as in the Stones’ Jagger?
“My husband is not a stone though,” Crystal said transparently. “His name is Glen.”