Magrath athlete learns a lot from summer experience

Seventeen-year-old Tim McMahon of Magrath participates in many sports, but above all his love for basketball sparked an interest in joining the Team Alberta Summer Games team this year.

“It’s just something I have always wanted to do and it’s the best basketball in Alberta so just to be a part of it was a fun thing,” he said. “I knew a few boys, five guys from the south, me, Josh Sparks from Medicine Hat and three boys from Lethbridge. I knew those guys from playing here in southern Alberta.”

McMahon, who moved to Magrath from Utah at the age of three, has taken a shine to basketball through an example set by his family members, who all also play basketball. Having been involved with the sport for 11 years, McMahon has found his niche in playing the point-guard position.

“While I was gone I learned a lot from being with those coaches. And playing with my teammates throughout the summer was one of the best things I could of done for my game, so it was a great experience,” McMahon said.

“We practiced twice a day, two hours in the morning and three hours in the afternoon, so that was pretty hard on my body. The other thing was traveling, we went to Vegas, Spokane and we did a lot of back and forth between Calgary and Hinton, so not sleeping in my own bed and traveling was pretty exhausting.”

During the national portion of the Alberta Summer Games tournament the team played five games, and probably around 50 games, throughout the entire season.

Tryouts were first held in April, and around May the final pick for the team was announced in Didsbury.

“We started practicing, we had three practices throughout May and June, and when the first weekend of July hit, we started practicing for about three weeks,” he explained. “Then we played the University of Alberta team and then we played against Mt. Royal in Calgary.”

Once finished in Calgary the team began traveling. Throughout the various cities visited on the national portion or the tournament, McMahon found Quebec to be the most interesting.

“I have never been there before and just being in the athletes village, and being in the atmosphere of a mini-olympics, and being able to hear the Prime Minister of Canada talk and the ceremonies were all awesome,” he said of his summer journey.

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