By Bernd Franke - Welland Tribune
Steve Atkin can thank serendipity for Niagara College landing a top recruit for its men's basketball team.
Atkin, the team's head coach, was able to combine the pleasure coaching with the business of teaching when he first spotted Derrick Stobbs from Midland exhibiting ?unbelievable quickness? on the court. St. Theresa's High School was playing in a pre-season tournament, competing at, of all places, Notre Dame, where Atkin teaches film studies.
"I didn't have to go far to see Derrick play," Atkin said with a laugh.
Though the showcase featured some of the top teams in Ontario, it didn?t take long for Atkin to appreciate that the 6-foot-5 forward would be "a good fit" for the fast-break team he's continuing to build at Niagara.
"He's got unbelievable quickness for his size and he's got a great head for the game. He has an excellent work ethic."
The basketball pedigree at St. Theresa's, which has played in the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations AAA in each of the past three seasons, also impressed Atkin who coached St. Theresa's coach, Dan Bouchard, when the two were at Brock University.
"Dan's got a lot of ties to the peninsula," Atkin said of Bouchard, a Welland who played his high school hoops at Notre Dame.
Atkin followed up an initial visit with Stobbs by inviting the Grade 12B student to a tour of Niagara?s main campus in Welland, which is where the team plays and also where the college's police foundations course is taught.
"We know he wanted to get into policing so Niagara would be a good fit, too, from an academic standpoint," Atkin said.
To say the least, Stobbs went back home to his mother and two sisters impressed with both the campus and the men's basketball program.
"I really like the campus, especially the new facility," he said of the 1,000-seat Athletic Centre that was completed in the fall of 2010.
Niagara wasn't a slam dunk in adding the fleet-footed big man to the rotation. Humber also expressed an interest in Stobbs, and his mother wanted him to play close to home at Georgian College in Barrie.
"She's kind of stressed out that I'll be leaving, but I was looking for a good basketball program more than anything," he said of decision to attend college in Welland, initially as a general arts student.
Located in Etobicoke, Humber would have much closer to Midland, but Stobbs couldn't see the Toronto school giving him the playing time he wanted.
"I would much rather be on the court playing rather than sit on the bench," said Stobbs, who hopes to get a lot of minutes in his rookie season with the Knights.
Most comfortable playing in the small forward position, Stobbs rates athleticism, an ability to get to the rim and rebounding as his strengths on the court.
"I was also one of the fastest guys on my team," he said, dispelling the myth that "big means slow."
Stobbs, who averaged 12 points and nine rebounds per game during his final season in high school, has also played on an Ontario Basketball Association select team coached by Bouchard. Since the OBA, like colleges, uses a shot clock, Stobbs isn't expected to have much, if any, difficulty adjusting to the faster pace of the college game.
"Because we're always pushing the ball up the court, the shot clock won't be that much of a factor for Derrick."
Notes: St. Francis alum Alex Shah is entering the workforce and won't return for a third season with the Knights. Defensive standout Rashad Morley's status, meanwhile, remains uncertain. He could transfer to university after three years at Niagara, creating a void the Knights would have trouble filling. "I think we haven't seen the best of him. His game keeps getting better and better," Atkin said.
