About the WMBA

Before returning to Winnipeg in 1997, Mike Ruta contacted Adam Wedlake, who was employed as program director at Basketball Manitoba. Adam immediately took an interest in assisting with the concept of a community league, and Mike proceeded to contact 25 Winnipeg community centres to solicit their interest in setting up a league. By September 1997, many community centres had committed to proceeding, including Burton Cummings, Chalmers, Fort Richmond, Gateway, Kelvin, River Heights, St.Norbert, Tyndall Park, Vince Leah, Lindenwoods, Fort Garry, Park City, Valley Gardens, Varsity View, Kirkfield Westwood, Dakota, and Waverly Heights. 

Mike turned to founding members Dale Gamey (Waverly Heights), Jan Voss (Mashinter) (Valley Gardens), Lori Hiscock (Gateway), Larry Kabez (Vince Leah), and Adam Wedlake (Basketball Manitoba) to lead efforts throughout the city which included organizing board meetings, preparation of a constitution, schedules and contacting convenors and coaches to kick off the league. Our convenors were many and involved vital members and supporters, including Doug Coates, who designed our logo, which endures today.

 

The first season 1997 to 1998, included 40 teams and increased each year to over 400 teams. In 1998, the WMBA introduced a spring league running from April to June to complement our successful winter league offering.

 

In 2006, the WMBA endorsed the formation of the Winnipeg Minor Basketball Foundation to finance, build, and maintain outdoor basketball facilities at community centres in major sections of Winnipeg.

 

To date, six outdoor courts were constructed with contributions from teams via a nominal player surcharge, contributions from the Government of Canada, the Province of Manitoba, the City of Winnipeg and member community centres. The courts were designed by Prairie Architects and constructed by Ted Fardoe through his company Canotech Consultants Ltd. The first court completed was at Garden City Community Club in 2006 at around $110,000, and five others have since been constructed at Oxford Heights, Dakota, Kirkfield Westwood, Whyteridge, and Central Corydon community centres. The courts feature a solid aggregate base covered by a Mondo surgace, sturdy hoops with plexiglass backboards, a fenced-in surface with lights to allow play in the early evening, and benches fro player use, all built to withstand Winnipeg weather conditions. The foundation also awards bursaries to both male and female youth who have participated in the league and desire to expand post-secondary education with continued involvement in basketball as players, coaches, referees or organizers.

 

Also, in 2006, the Winnipeg Minor Basketball Association (WMBA) received a grant from a Federal Health department to promote female involvement in basketball. The grant gave rise to a program entitled "Girl - She Got Game", which was used in all community centres to promote participation in basketball through the WMBA. At the same time, the WMBA introduced a coach of the year award modelled after the exemplary coaching of Bruce Russell, our first recipient. Also, the WMBA conducts Hoopfest of all our younger youth participants who stated early in our development and continues today.

Growing and developing was the mantra of the WMBA board for the next ten years. The introduction of great programs such as Steve Nash Youth Basketball and the "Training Day" for grassroots coaches, as well as solid concepts such as fair play and zero-tolerance policies, are strong examples of initiatives the WMBA board implemented to promote and enhance the experience of players, coaches, and parents. In collaboration with Basketball Manitoba, the Training Day coaches clinic soon developed into the Super Coaches Clinic, which became the largest coaches clinic in the country. Every fall, the Super Coaches Clinic remains a landmark opportunity for local coaches of all youth basketball levels. 

In 2007, FIBA rules were adopted by the country's governing bodies of basketball. The WMBA also adopted these rules for our leagues with appropriate modifications to suit youth skills and abilities.

In 2008, the WMBA Foundation announced the award of the third outdoor basketball court to the Dakota Community Club. The court was completed and opened officially in August of 2009. To meet the demands of the competitive club basketball development, the Rising Stars League was also developed for ages 12-15 in 2008. The popularity of this league necessitated the introduction of the qualifying tournament for the 2009 fall season. 

In 2009, the recurring theme and discussion at most board meeting was; "How can the WMBA attract participants at the youngest age groups and maintain them year after year. There were great concepts such as Hoopfest, the Christmas Wesmen Classic Tournament; however, we wanted to grow our number of athletes in our leagues.

In 2010, the WMBA secured its first corporate sponsor to offer youth basketball leagues to the introductory ages 5-7 years at a significantly reduced fee. Denny's Restaurants was our title sponsor for the youth basketball programs. In cooperation with our member community clubs, this subsidy initiative has proved very successful for the 5-7 year old divisions for many years. We considered this initiative for families to provide affordable playing opportunities while introducing their children to our great game. As part of the league's mandate to increase and provide quality programming, we ventured forward to deliver pilot projects based on the new 3x3 concept. The first was a 3-on-3 league for 6-8 year olds, where the available court time and the ability for coaches to instruct athletes increased significantly. The second initiative was a 3x3 summer league on the WMBA Foundation's outdoor courts for boys and girls between 15 and 18 years. 

In 2011, the Community Wesman Classic Tournament had run its course with the loss of the title sponsor and the subsequent loss of support from the hosting facility and in 2012, the league rebranded with the "Winnipeg Sun 3-on-3 Classic Tournament". The tournament was based on the 3x3 play format emulating the future Olympic sport. 

Through the growth of the league over the years and the number of teams competing for practice gym time, issues became apparent not so much for the gameplay; however, for practice times for all teams. Many discussions regarding the requirements associated with Sport Canada's Long Term Athlete Development model. The league's community club convenors and league coordinators worked tirelessly to build teams across clubs and share gym times as best as possible. 

By 2012, numerous new community club gymnasiums had been developed in the city, and the practice time pressures were alleviated; these quality venues were also utilized as game-day facilities. However, we noticed a decline in girls' participation in the league. 

In 2013, we welcomed Suki Choeun to the board as the Director of Women's Programming. The "Girls Can Play" initiative successfully attracted 190 participants to well-organized fun-based skill camps. Of the 190 girls attending these camps, 150 were first-time participants in basketball. The WMBA also moved forward with a new program for 5-7 year old boys and girls this same year. The Jr.NBA program was a 12-week skill and fun-based development camp that followed the Canada Sport for Life guidelines and Canada Basketball athlete development pathways. The first-year pilot had four community clubs run the program for 80 athletes. The NBA facilities a separate coaches clinic for all coaches involved with the program. These great programs carried on for numerous years. 

2014 saw the installation of the final court in the WMBA Foundation mandate to provide one facility in each of our six districts started approximately 12 years previous. It is an excellent achievement of the WMBA Foundation to see through the installation of one of these outstanding outdoor facilities in each of our original Districts. Installations were provided to the following community centres that have been the benefactors of this program. Garden Ciry Community Club, Whyte Ridge Community Club, Dakota Community Club, Kirkfield Westwood Community Club, Oxford Heights Community Club, Corydon Community Centre. 

2015 and 2016 maintained th provision of great programming as noted above. The elite arm of the league rebranded from Rising Stars to the Manitoba Basketball League, attracting 29 teams in its first season.  

In 2018, the Jr.NBA program was expanded to offer sessions for ages 7-12. This initiative was put in place as a strategy to introduce basketball to players who were new to the game as well as provide additional training sessions outside of league play. The expansion was well-received. A new partnership was also formed between the WMBA and Peg City Basketball to deliver two significant club basketball programs: 

- Peg City Youth Basketball League for ages 5-8

- Peg City Showcase series for grades 9-12.

The first season saw 61 teams.

 

In 2019, the Peg City Showcase series grew to 86 teams and Club teams from outside of Winnipeg started to participate, including teams from Kenora, ON. Fall registration was on the rise, increasing by 300 players, with excitement for basketball at an all-time high after the Toronto Raptors won the NBA Championship. The league expected spring numbers to be through the roof. 

 

Unfortunately, early 2020 saw the cancellation of the 2019-20 playoffs as well as the 2020 spring season due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Fall 2020 and spring 2021 had programs open partially only to get shut back down. The WMBA persisted, however, by offering 1-on-1 training, virtual skill work, and smaller sized in-person training when given the green light from governing bodies to re-open the winter programming in 2021. 

 

2021 spring season was pushed into summer and evolved into an outdoor 3x3 league that saw 70 teams back on the WMBA outdoor courts again after the competition hiatus. Modifications were made for the lower ages with adjustable backboard and newly lined courts. The summer was a huge success! Fall 2021 saw stronger registration numbers considering we were still in the middle of a pandemic. Challenges arose as school permits were no longer being offered to many of the community centres leaving many teams with little to no practice time. To address this, the WMBA set up group training sessions at the Sport for Life Centre to help offset the lack of team practice time. The first half of the season was successful and after an extended holiday break, due to the Omnicron variant, the WMBA season was back underway. 

 

The league continues as Manitoba's largest basketball league with the work of club convenors, coordinators, gym supervisors, referees, coaches, and of course athletes.