Brian Meier at last feels like he is at home and the boys basketball program at Cambie Secondary couldn’t be happier.
For the first time in his 10-year teaching career in the Richmond School District, Meier has a continuing contract at one school. That comes after an outstanding decade of coaching in the city, including earlier stops at RC Palmer and McRoberts. His resumé features plenty of experience guiding provincial teams too.
Now, he is Cambie’s athletic director and pouring his passion for hoops into the North Richmond school.
“I’m just thrilled,” smiled Meier. “ I love what this facility and school has to offer. We also have a lot of young athletic people who crave someone to teach them. I’m very fortunate to have some coaching friends who share the same ideology and passion and want to work together.
“We have a vision from Grade 8 to 12. I’m very excited because we are very new into developing this and we are already seeing success. I can’t wait moving forward to see the potential we have here.”
The Crusaders’ senior boys team has all the ingredients to reach the provincial “AA” tournament for the third straight year. The junior boys are currently unbeaten in city play, while the Grade 9s sit in second place and the Grade 8s are in the middle of the pack.
Meier has taken on a senior squad that enjoyed a solid run under former coach Chris Mattu and has three key returning starters — Kevin Dhillon, Kyle Kondola and Zak Hassen. The team started off slowly as Meier implemented his own systems, philosophy and even different roles for some of his players. Now, the Crusaders are beginning to hit their stride as the playoffs loom.
They finished second at their own Cambie Classic last weekend, falling 72-65 to GP Vanier in the final. The “AAAA” tier Courtney school raced out to a 22-7 lead after one quarter and twice held off Crusader rallies to claim the title.
Cambie roared back from a 20-point first quarter deficit to defeat Langley’s RE Mountain in its opening game, then got past Cambie 85-66 in the semi-finals.
League play continued Monday with a 93-82 loss to the McNair Marlins that, again, saw the Crusaders rally to make things interesting. The Marlins were coming off a big tournament win in Abbotsford that will put them in the top 10 of the provincial AAA rankings when they are released Thursday. The loss dropped Cambie’s league record to 4-2.
“When you come on a senior team coaching for the first time when they are older, it takes some time to learn. We are getting there,” continued Meier. “It’s very different to what they have done in previous years. It’s learning what we expect from each other and just learning the language of basketball of what I say compared to what they know.”
A win earlier this season over RC Palmer, in a battle of honourable mention teams, has already secured the Crusaders the No. 1 Richmond seed for the Lower Mainland “AA” playoffs. However, the road back to provincials provides plenty of obstacles with No. 3 King George, No. 8 St. Pat’s, Britannia (HM) and Palmer all in the hunt for just likely two B.C. berths.
“It’s why you play the game,” added Meier. “That’s what you want. You want to have to learn things. I tell these guys there are so many life lessons, especially for some of the kids we have. It’s about becoming the best person and learning how to achieve success. Understanding that nothing is truly worthy is not easy to do.”
