FERGUS – Team Addy has a new member: Fergus native and wheelchair basketball star Patrick Anderson.
He is bringing Wheelchair Basketball Canada to this summer’s Team Addy 3X3 Basketball Tournament and Family Fun Day, which has grown to become the largest amateur three-on-three tournament in the country.
And he’s helping the Centre Wellington Celtics add wheelchair basketball to its programs.
Andy Abra is a coach and board member for the Celtics, a volunteer-run basketball club that has offered teams for girls and boys since 2000.
Abra was Addison Hill’s coach and Addy loved the game.
She was diagnosed with angiosarcoma cancer and underwent treatment at Toronto’s Sick Kids Hospital and died just after her 14th birthday in 2022.
But in that short time, between treatments and hospital stays, she inspired patients at Toronto’s Sick Kids Hospital and her friends and family in Elora.
She was the model of courage, selflessness, good humour and optimism and she wanted to hold a three-on-three tournament fundraiser for the hospital.
Although she was part of the planning, she was too ill to attend the first Team Addy 3X3 Basketball Tournament and Family Fun Day in 2022 and tragically, died on July 10, just two days after her 14th birthday.
“It started as a birthday party for Addy,” Abra said. “It really grew with the CW Celtics. That first year we had 25 teams.
“Addy got really sick, really quick and died the day after,” he added, pausing to contain his emotions.
“That motivated us to keep going. And now we’ve created Canada’s largest amateur three-on-three tournament.”
Abra watched Anderson play for Team Canada at the Paralympics, “and I thought, this guy is from our town?” he said, in awe of the talent.
The Celtics have been growing as a club with 17 rep teams (U10 to U19) and a house league program of more than 200 youth aged six to 12.
They also have eight girls teams, making the Celtics one of the largest programs for girls in the region.
Abra thought about adding wheelchair basketball to the program and reached out to Anderson, who was on board right away.
“It seemed a neat convergence of people and the communities they are in,” Anderson explained in a conference call interview with Abra.
“People can see wheelchair basketball and have a go at it. The three-on-three is a neat way to get on board. And to join Team Addy, that’s really neat too.”
The Upper Grand District School Board has a program where sports chairs travel from school to school, providing the opportunity for students to try out wheelchair basketball.
“Andy’s efforts with the Celtics are a continuation and amplification of what’s going on at the school board level,” Anderson said.
“There’s already fertile ground and interest.”
The Celtics organization was successful in receiving a grant from the Canadian Tire Jump Start program and is purchasing several sports wheelchairs to get its program started.
Anyone – with or without a disability – will be able to attend try-it-out nights when they get started, likely in the fall. Club officials hope to spawn interest in players but also coaches, referees and other officials.
That’s what it will take to build the league, officials say.
“It’s an opportunity to do something really unique at the community level,” Anderson said. “It builds the ecosystem.
“Kids try it at school, they see a three-on-three tournament, maybe they join a league and that builds from there. And I want to leverage my legacy in the sport. We want to incite interest so it can grow.”
There will also be a Team Addy 3X3 tournament in Sarnia at Lambton College on Aug. 9.
Tournament moving to Guelph
Officials announced in a press release the Team Addy 3X3 Basketball Tournament and Family Fun Day has outgrown Centre Wellington District High School and is moving to Guelph.
It is set to take place on July 12.
Abra said officials are expecting 150 teams to register this year and the university’s athletic centre is designed for large events like this.
The high school in Fergus was crowded last year with 100 teams.
“We are incredibly grateful to the Centre Wellington community for embracing this over the past three years,” Addy’s mom Jessica Hill stated in a press release.
“While it’s bittersweet to move from where it all began, this growth is a testament to Addy’s impact and the way her legacy continues to bring people together.
“We’re not leaving Centre Wellington behind,” she stressed.
“We’re expanding in a way that allows us to welcome even more people into Addy’s story, and we hope to see even more familiar faces join us in Guelph this July.”
There will be a barbecue, face painting, a silent auction, vendors and raffles like before, “but we don’t have the space for the carnival games” at the university, she added in a phone interview.
Hill is “feeling all the feels,” she said – sadness over losing her daughter, excitement to see Team Addy grow, satisfaction that in just four years they have raised more than $550,000 for Sick Kids hospital.
“If you saw how she was at Sick Kids, how she persevered…” Hill said.
“She was so strong and that force runs within me every day. In my personal journey, she empowers me.”
For details about the tournament and fun day, visit teamaddy.ca.
For information about the Celtics, visit cwceltics.ca.
