The Cochrane High School Cobras senior boy’s basketball team was short players to start the season. So a junior-varsity player was recruited to fill out the lineup.
But Jake Nielson wasn’t there for depth. The 16-year-old shooting guard/wing played regular minutes on a senior boy’s team that went 5-2 in the regular season and made it to the Alberta Schools’ Athletic Association South Central Zone tournament in Olds.
Nielson, whose older brother Chace played his rookie season at Medicine Hat College this winter, will be playing for the provincial Under-16-year-old (U16) boy’s basketball team this summer.
“I tried out for the U17 team, because they were going to nationals,” the 6-foot-2 shooter said. “I got cut from that team in the last round of cuts. So I went to the U16 tryouts. I ended playing for the U16 team.”
Unlike the U17 and U15 Alberta teams, which are playing national tournaments this summer, Nielson’s U16 team will be playing teams from B.C., Saskatchewan and the Territories.
“There will be some good players obviously,” he said of the competition Alberta’s U16 hoopsters face in Edmonton in July. “They’ll be big.”
Cobras JV coach Jim Forrest said the Alberta team selection will only help Nielson’s game in the long run.
“Jake is already a polished performer in terms of basketball skills, but another summer at the provincial level will be great to get him ready to be the leader he will need to be for us next year,” Forrest surmised.
Also making the grade from Cochrane High’s basketball program is Brittany Janzen. The Cobras’ junior-varsity star made the Alberta U15 girl’s side and will play at the national tournament in Edmonton in July.
