A program started over a decade ago that was majorly successful is returning to UFV
Al Tuchscherer’s Jr. Cascades started out in 2006 as a small skills academy for girls’ basketball. It went on to become the centre of player development for hundreds of players, some of whom continued on to play at high levels. The program was put on hold in 2015 but is returning to UFV, set to begin sometime this spring. For Tuchscherer, the growth was fairly significant during the beginning of the program.
“It worked out better than even we imagined it would. In the first year, we had 40 kids, but then right away, our numbers jumped to 140 in our second year. Five years later, we were up to 750 kids,” Tuchscherer said.
Tuchscherer went on to comment about how the Jr. program was founded on the belief that girls from the Fraser Valley could succeed at a high level and in high numbers with a homebuilt academy, saying: “It showed a lot of those girls that we were a really good option. We had some really good people in our program; our coaching was pretty good. It gave them an opportunity to see that. The girls tend to love playing together.”
Many of those girls went on to play together at UFV for the Cascades, and if you wondered just how significant the program was, one needs only to look at the national tournament during the 2014 season. The first class of Jr. Cascades to get to UFV won a national bronze medal at the U Sports national championships.
The program was paused in 2015, due not to its success, but rather the sheer load of responsibilities that Tuchscherer and others had to manage for the large skills academy.
“There were a few reasons that we put the program on hold for a little bit, and we weren’t sure if we would revisit it again … It just grew by leaps and bounds. By that time we were around 700 kids on a year-to-year basis,” Tuchscherer said.
Tuchscherer had great assistants and his wife, Denise, who helped run the program, but the workload was simply too much. The workload, combined with the changing tide of basketball in the Valley led to a natural shift of focus, as American schools and showcase tournaments for scouts were becoming more important for players who wanted to play basketball long term. Tuchscherer wasn’t interested in that style of player development, so the break was needed.
To start such a major program, and now to bring it back, would likely be too logistically challenging for many coaches. Tuchscherer’s long career with the Cascades definitely helped him form such a large academy, and it will play a major role in the revival of the program.
“We have been at UFV for quite awhile. I got to UFV in ‘95, and so I’ve been around here a bit. I think when we were running Jr. Cascades in its previous incarnation, I think we did a pretty good job with supporting the community, and I think basketball really grew during that time. I think there’s still people that remember that,” Tuchscherer said. “There’s still people that ask me about it. People ask me ‘Why aren’t you doing it anymore?’ and the answer is: ‘We’re going to start again.’”
Though the challenges posed by COVID-19 are significant, the plan is for the program to begin in some form during the spring of this year. Not all details are known at this time; however, the program is scheduled to begin and has been in the works since 2020. Stay up to date with the Jr. Cascades, as a long-lost program of athletic excellence returns to UFV.
