After a successful 2024-2025 season, the Gravenhurst High School Senior Boys’ Basketball Team was recently selected to receive the Ontario Federation of School Athletics Associations (OFSAA) Team Sportsmanship Award!
The team, made up of 13 Grade 11 and 12 students went undefeated in the Muskoka Parry Sound League, and captured the first Muskoka Parry Sound Championship for the school’s Senior Boys’ basketball program in over 30 years! After moving on to the Georgian Bay Championships, the team knocked off the host school from Collingwood to earn a spot at the 2025 OFSAA Boys’ A Basketball Championships. Despite facing tough competition, the team battled through some tough games and came away with a solid win and advanced to the consolation semi-finals.
Even though the team didn’t win at OFSAA, they had a strong season. It was no surprise to the team coach that in the end, OFSAA reached out to the school to let them know that the Senior Boys’ Basketball Team was selected to receive the OFSAA Team Sportsmanship Award.
“I am not the least bit surprised that our Gryphons won this award. It’s about how they act when we are out in the community – they thank bus drivers, they are polite in restaurants, and they show appreciation to our parent volunteers. It’s also about how these boys behaved at OFSAA – they were respectful with officials, organizers, and opposing teams. They played hard right to the end, even when a game was out of reach. And they just generally carried themselves with maturity and class,” explained team coaches, Jacob Dickinson, Gillian Humphries, and Matthew Tkaczyk. “These boys do all the things that make their coaches proud of them every step of the way. They are so deserving of this OFSAA sportsmanship award!”
The OFSAA Team Sportsmanship Award is awarded at each championship to a team that demonstrated the attributes of sportsmanship and fair play, the characteristics that are fundamental to school sports.
Congratulations to the team members – Ryan Aldon, Cameron Bird, Dawson Blancher, Boston Brennan, Landon Cameron, Andrew Lawson, Matthew Lawson, Maxwell Linders, Carter Pallister, Om Patel, Maddox Rindaldi, Austin Rocks, and Daxton Thwaites.
