Today on the Basketball Manitoba Podcast we have JoAnne Small (Wells). 

JoAnne is a former player with the University of Winnipeg Wesmen, where she put together one of the all-time careers in Canadian Collegiate basketball history. Check this out. She was…

If that wasn't enough in her final year with the Wesmen, she led the CIS in scoring, averaging 24.3 points per game and is fourth on the Wesmen's all-time scoring list.

She is one of the youngest ever to be inducted into the Manitoba Basketball Hall of Fame in its history.

Today on the Basketball Manitoba Podcast we have Tanya McKay.

She is the head coach of the University of Winnipeg Wesmen Women’s program, a position she has held for 26 years.

She is the longest-serving head coach in the program’s history. She has guided the Wesmen to over 500 wins, with 4 National Championship appearances, finishing 2nd in 2005, and coaching for two years with the National Team program.

She was awarded as Manitoba Coach of the Year in the Open Category in 2014 after winning gold with the provincial team at the national championships. She was recognized as Canada West coach of the year 2017.

As a player for the Wesmen, She played five years and was recognized as an All-Canadian 3 times,  was four times All-Great Plains team, GPAC rookie of the year, and the GPAC MVP and appeared in the national championships three times.

She has spent over 26 years in the Manitoba community as a coach at every level, from community club to university.

She is a member in the Player category of the Manitoba Basketball Hall of Fame class of 2003.

Today on the Basketball Manitoba Podcast we have Stephen Tackie.

Stephen is the current head coach of the Sturgeon Heights Huskies where has coached for 14 years at both the Jr Varsity and Varsity levels.  His teams have been to the Provincial Championship 5 times, and he won a Junior Varsity Provincial title in 2009.

He has been involved with the Manitoba Provincial Team program at various levels since 1998 and in 2012 and 2013, he led the 17U boys program to consecutive National Silver Medal performances.

Additionally, he has coached for the Centre for Performance Program and the University of Winnipeg men's programs.  He is an instructor for Canada Basketball's Coach Certification system, and he is a regular in the summer camp circuit.

He was voted Junior Varsity boy's coach of the year twice, and in 2010 and 2013 was a finalist for the Sport Manitoba Coach of the Year school system award.

Today on the Basketball Manitoba Podcast, we have Ogo Okwumabua.

Ogo is a graduate of Glenlawn Collegiate, where he was ranked 10th best high school player in the province. He played for two years with the Manitoba Provincial Team program in 1994 and 1995.

He then went on to play with the Manitoba Bisons for five seasons, and while there, he was a Great Plains Athletic Conference First Team All-Star twice and Second Team All-Star once. Following his days with the Bisons, he went on to play professionally with the Winnipeg Cyclone of the IBL in 2000.

Ogo is a staple in the basketball community. Beyond playing the game, he's helped support and grow the culture in some unique ways. 

He started the Hoops Fanatic brand in 2001, which sold clothing and provided jerseys to most of the province's high school and club programs. He then launched the Hoops Fanatic Super Summer League in 2003, which helped showcase the province's youth. This included the Hoops Fanatic Summer League for men, the top league in the province for six years.

Additionally, Ogo has coached for ten years at Fort Richmond Collegiate, where he's built a very successful program and led the team to the 'AAAA' provincial championship game in his first year with the program. He was also the head coach at Red River College for five years and an assistant coach with the Bisons for five years. 

Currently, Ogo is a co-owner of the clothing brand Zueike (https://www.zueike.com), a brand built around community and a belief that we are all one people and one village.

Today on the Basketball Manitoba podcast we have Debbie Yeboah.

Debbie is a graduate of Sisler High School in Winnipeg where she was recognized as the Manitoba Player of the Year and won the Carl Ridd Award.

She was recognized as the number two player in the province in her grade 11 year and the number one player in her grade 12 year.   Additionally, she played for the Manitoba Provincial team for five years.

After graduation, she was recruited to play at the University of Victoria.

She was recognized as a Canada West All-Star three times during her time there, landing on the first team once and the second team two times.

She finished her career in the top 10 in 12 all-time statistical categories for the University of Victoria Vikes.

She was an academic All-Canadian four times, and in her final year with the Vikes, she was awarded the prestigious President's Cup by UVic.

She finished off her career playing professional basketball for two years in Germany where she was recognized as Guard of the Year, 1st Team All-Star, All-Import Team and led the league in scoring.

After her playing career was over, she stayed with the game coaching with Athletes in Action for 9 years.   Her journey has now come full circle as she’s the current assistant coach with the Sisler Spartans, a position she held for three years.

Today on the Basketball Manitoba Podcast we have Gill Cheung.

Gill has been the head coach of the Brandon Bobcats Men’s basketball program for 12 years.  He was the head coach at Douglas College for two years and an assistant at Simon Fraser University.

As a player with the Bobcats, he led the team to two National Championship finals as team captain and he was an Academic All-Canadian. After finishing his playing career, he coached as an assistant with the Men’s and Women’s programs.

Before Brandon, he played at Langara college and won a National Championship.  He is a graduate of Richmond High school, where he won a British Columbia provincial championship.

WATCH: Coach Gil Cheung Half Court Shot For Tuition - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnUEhREh5iQ

Today on the Basketball Manitoba Podcast we have Scott Martin. 

Scott has been coaching for over 35 years at various levels and is an absolute staple in the Manitoba Basketball community.  He is currently the Head Coach of the Men's Basketball team at Canadian Mennonite University.

He coached in the high school ranks with the Sisler Spartans Varsity Boys program, winning a Provincial Championship in 2006. 

Scott has coached the Manitoba Provincial Team on numerous occasions, starting in 1997 and again in 2019. 

He played for two years with the University of Manitoba Jr Bison program and three years with the Bisons.

Scott has been named 'AAAA' Boys Coach of the Year 3 times in 2000, 2006 and 2013.

Today on the Basketball Manitoba Podcast we have Coleen Dufresne. 

Colleen was the head coach of the University of Manitoba Women's program for 17 years and then served as the athletic director for another 15 years.  Additionally, she coached at the University of New Brunswick for four years before heading to Manitoba. 

During her time leading the Bisons, they achieved two U Sports Silver medals, Two bronze medals and made the national tournament nine times, and the conference playoffs every year she coached.  The pinnacle of her coaching career was bringing home three national championships with the Bisons in 1988, 1996 and 1997.  

She was named National Coach of the year three times and conference coach of the year five times.  She has coached at the World Championships and Pan American Games including bringing home a silver medal.

She is a former national team basketball player who represented Canada at the 1976 Olympics in Montreal. 

Coleen was inducted as a member of the Manitoba Basketball Hall of Fame with four different teams and as a Builder.  She is a member of the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame Class of 2017 and the Canada West Hall of fame Class of 2019.  She was the recipient of the YWCA "Women of Distinction" Award in the category of Recreation, Sport & Active Living in 2005.

Today on the Basketball Manitoba Podcast we have Jerry Hemmings. 

Jerry is the second-most winningest coach in Canadian University basketball history. He led the Brandon Bobcats to 734 career wins and 21 national tournament appearances which include 4 National titles, 13 Final 4 appearances, 21 Final 8 Appearances, 19 Conference Championships. 

He coached for one year at Tulane University as well as five years with the Canadian National team. 

As a player in North Carolina, he won a state high school title, played pro ball in Europe, played two with Lakehead University and one with Brandon University Bobcats, where he was named a first-team GPAC all-star.

Jerry is a Manitoba Basketball Hall of Fame member, Class of 2007 and the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame Class of 2007. 

Today, on the Basketball Manitoba Podcast, we have Ken Opalko. 

Ken played high school basketball for Daniel McIntyre where he won a City and Provincial Basketball Championship and was selected as the Provincial Most Valuable Player.  Ken was selected as a 1st Team High School All-Canadian in the Starting Lineup Newspaper.  

He went on to play at the University of Winnipeg, where he was a  First Team All-Canadian, five-time Conference All-Star, Wesmen University Athlete of the year and he finished his career as the Wesmen All-Time leading scorer with career points, all this without having the 3-point line. 

Ken was a member of the Canadain Junior National Team for two years and Senior National A and B Teams for another two years. 

He is an indicted member of the Manitoba Basketball Hall of Fame Class of 1998, the Manitoba High School Hall of Fame Class of 2013 and the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame Class of 2015.