Oshawa teen meets Canadian basketball idols
Family invited to practice after coach hears of $250 fine for having hoop in front yard
With a big grin on his face, Oshawa teen Joshua Roberto shook hands with some of Canada’s biggest basketball stars on Tuesday — a gesture of support from the national team’s head coach after Roberto’s family was slapped with a $250 fine for their front-yard basketball net.
Coach Jay Triano offered to pay the fine Monday, and invited the family to watch Canada’s men’s national basketball team practice Tuesday morning at the Air Canada Centre.
“When I read the story in the Star, it resonated with me, because I remember shooting and my neighbours asking me to go to bed because it was 11 o’clock and the bouncing of the ball was keeping them awake,” Triano said.
Sitting courtside, Joshua had the chance to watch Toronto-born NBA players such as Anthony Bennett and Kelly Olynyk gearing up for the FIBA Americas Olympic qualifying tournament, opening Aug. 31 in Mexico City.
“It’s really cool to see them practise,” said an awestruck Joshua, who hopes to play in the NBA himself one day, despite having total vision loss in one eye and blurry vision in the other.
But his family worried the 13-yearold would have to stop practising after Joshua’s mom, Lisa Roberto, was given a $250 nuisance ticket for their basketball net on June 25.
The family was also asked to per- manently remove the net following neighbours’ complaints to the city, according to Joshua’s older sister, Amanda Maciocia.
Maciocia and her boyfriend, Bradley Trudeau, joined Joshua for the practice at the ACC and thanked Triano for his support.
After practice, players popped by the bench one by one, including Joshua’s favourite player, Torontoborn Andrew Wiggins, and his fellow Toronto native, Raptors point guard Cory Joseph.
“We promote physical activity for young kids and yet, some people disagree, I guess,” said Joseph. “But as a kid you just have to keep your dreams alive and keep going.”
“(Joshua) just said, ‘I can’t wait to go play when I get home now,’ ” Maciocia said after the practice wrapped up. “It just inspired him.”
The basketball net was the latest neighbourhood concern, the family previously told the Star. They have also faced hundreds of dollars in tickets for Maciocia’s car being parked on the street and noise complaints from the city, they said.
But neighbours said they have legitimate concerns over issues such as loud parties at the Roberto residence and the family’s basketball net being left out on a dangerous corner of the road. While the family said they keep the net on their property, the $250 ticket Maciocia showed the Star had “BASKETBALL NET ON HIGHWAY” listed under the remarks.