Pancake Breakfast at Tofield School SEE PAGE 9
Your LOCAL Media since 1918! Volume 105 Issue 19
www.tofieldmerc.com
Thursday, January 11, 2023 s
Lyons returns to Ryley School as NAIT Ooks head basketball coach John Mather Staff Reporter
Head coach Kiera Lyons issues some advice to her charges on the NAIT Ooks ladies basketball team as they held a practice at the Ryley School Jan. 6. Lyons, a graduate of Ryley School, brought the team to the school as a favour to her home school but also as an opportunity for her team to bond and influence young players who may, at some time, want to try and play at the collegiate level.
Ryley school students held a pep rally, Jan. 6 to welcome back one of their own. Kiera Lyons graduated from Ryley School in 2009. An athlete, who grew up on a farm not far from Ryley, she helped her Ryley Rebels basketball team win several tournaments during her tenure with the team. After graduating, Lyons played two years with the Augustana Vikings before moving on to play three years with the University of Saskatchewan Huskies. In Lyons’ time with the
Students from Ryley School slap hands with members of the NAIT Ooks ladies basketball team following a skills demonstration and pep rally at the school Jan. 6. The Ooks came to Ryley because they are coached by former Ryley student athlete Kiera Lyons, the schoolʼs most heralded athlete.
Huskies, she captained the team to a Canada West championship along with two final eight appearances. She received degrees in both psychology and biology but has since moved into coaching full time. Since moving back to Alberta, she worked as a player development coach for the Lakeland Rustlers and last summer was the assistant coach with 2021 Canadian Elite Basketball Champion Edmonton Stingers. She was named the head coach of the NAIT Ooks Women’s Basketball Program last spring, following the Ooks winning of the Canadian Colleges Athletics Association national championship. “This is my first year as the head coach and I felt I had to showcase my girls and couldn’t think of anywhere better than my hometown,” she said when asked why she brought the Ooks to participate at Ryley, giving drills to the students. As the players from the Ooks were introduced, several ran to the assembled students to randomly give them NAIT Ooks Tshirts. The students had made signs they waved enthusiastically welcoming Lyons back to her alma mater and the gymnasium had several banners posted welcoming both her and the basketball team to the school. “We don’t have a specific goal for today,” she said. “But I feel it’s important for my girls to learn about community engage-
ment and know that it's important that giving back to other communities is important. It may inspire some of the students to dream big and know that from humble beginnings they can achieve their dreams.” She added she was inspired in her youth by seeing and meeting the U of A Pandas at a basketball camp. “I’m very fortunate in that I’m a full time coach at NAIT and I can spend my time focussing exclusively on my team.” She said the girls squad is in a rebuilding year with several of the National Championship team graduating. “We’re a young team and we had a very tough first half schedule,” said Lyons. “But we’ve put it together in the second half and are playing some very good basketball of late. “We don’t have anyone beyond the second year of eligibility.” She said the girls are eligible for up to five years of and focussing on the club’s culture was one of the main focuses for this year. NAIT plays other colleges across Alberta including Concordia, Kings, Augustana, Medicine Hat, Fort McMurray Lethbridge College, SAIT, Olds /College and Briarcrest in Saskatchewan. “We went to Lethbridge, Calgary and will have one to Grand Prairie. It will be a long trip for us this year,” she said. She said her team played 10 games in the first semester with the regular season running
from October through to February. The playoffs follow. Her Ooks currently have a 2-8 record but in their last game they defeated the third ranked team in the country. “That was a big day for us,” Lyons said. “It’s was tough building a new culture. Our returning girls didn’t have big leadership roles in previous years, but with our graduations they had to take on more responsibility and then they had to adjust to me coming in as a new coach.” Lyons said it is a full out rebuilding year. “By the end of the first semester things were starting to come together, and I'm expecting good things in the second season.” Returning to Ryley she did say there were some familiar faces among the teaching staff. The day was set up by Grade 5 teacher Cheryl Osmond. Students were told that Lyons was the most decorated athlete in Ryley School history. Students were told to look along the wall and they could see Kiera’s name on many of the banners placed to indicate league champs over the years. In the hall there are still photos of her in the school’s trophy case. “Thank you for having us,” said Lyons after being introduced to the students. “Some of my favourite memories are from here and it means an awful lot to me to come back here.” She then introduced her team who gave brief biographies of themselves.