The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Kelly Carrington Staff Writer A new rebounder is helping athletes at Creighton Community School improve their basketball game. The Shoot Away The Gun basketball rebound machine helps athletes improve their shooting, accuracy, timing and overall game. 'It's a rebounder that shoots balls consistently. You can program where the ball goes,' said coach and physical education teacher Ryan Trumbley. The device has long arms that reach to the bottom to the back board with a mesh that surrounds the board and net. Basketballs are fired from the bottom of the machine to the player, who shoots the ball at the board and net, where it is collected in the mesh. Athletes can choose the location the ball is sent, and how often a ball is thrown and how many times at each location. The machine tracks how many basketballs are thrown, how many baskets are made and the percentage of shots made. 'We use it in practice or kids can come in (to the gymnasium) in the morning to practice,' said Trumbley. On average, an athlete can shoot 1,000 basketballs an hour. 'It's such an (important) machine,' said the coach. The Shoot Away The Gun machine is available only to those on the basketball teams and is to be used responsibly. 'It's a high-end training machine,' said Trumbley. With a price tag of $6,400, Creighton Community School applied for, and received, a $5,000 grant from Northern Sport, Culture and Recreation Development (NSCRD). The Aboriginal Sport Grant paid the majority of the bill with the remaining $1,400 coming from the Legacy Fund, which the school received for running a sports jamboree earlier this season. Ryan Karakochuk of NSCRD was pleased to present the Kodiaks with the grant money for the training tool. Creighton is one of two schools in the northern part of Saskatchewan to own such a machine. Trumbley saw the rebounder at the Nike World Basketball Conference last year and knew the school needed it. Coaches from Buffalo Narrows were at the same conference with the same idea. There are only a handful of Shoot Away The Gun machines in Saskatchewan. 'We're very lucky to be one of the two in the North,' said Trumbley. 'We couldn't have taken it out of the phys-ed budget,' he said, grateful for the grant. Creighton Community School is now eligible to apply for a second grant next year. The Kodiaks have had the machine for roughly two weeks, and Trumbley says he's already seeing the impact. 'There's a huge difference in shooting already,' he said. 'Kids get 1,000 shots in an hour before school starts.' Trumbley says the machine has cut down significantly on time as well as shooters requiring a second person to act as a rebounder. 'So you can work on your own,' he said. The machine is used in practices and tracks the percentage of shots made, which creates a healthy competition among teammates.
