Photographing the action of sporting events has long been an interest of mine. I loved photographing our sons in their chosen sporting endeavours and continue with their children, our grandkids.
But I also love to photograph sporting events that occur here in Kelowna such as the Kelowna Apple Triathlon, the Pickleball Nationals, the B.C. Senior Games and the Kelowna Polo Classic. I’ve also attended and photographed the Williams Lake and Calgary stampedes.
Towards the end of the last school year I photographed the season ending games of the Rutland Voodoos, the senior boys’ basketball team of Rutland Secondary School here in Kelowna. Our grandson, Kyle, a grade 12 graduate, was a member of this team.
My objective was to make images of the basketball action. But as I entered the RSS gymnasium realized there was so much more going on than just basketball.
I could not help but feel the atmosphere. It was absolutely electric. Loud ‘Rap’ music was pumping out of the sound system. The whole gymnasium seemed to by vibrating. I could not understand the lyrics of the music then realized they were in the Punjabi language. RSS is a multicultural school reflecting the diversity of the Rutland community.
Near where we sat a clutch of teenage girls were in animated conversation not in English but as I found out later, in Syrian. And groups of boys were laughing and jostling at jokes that they directed at each other. All this was going on as the players warmed up in preparation for the game. This was going to be fun.
By the time the game started the bleachers were jammed with spectators from RSS as well as from their rival team. As a retired school principal I just loved being in the middle of such a busy, noisy scene.
I located myself 3 or 4 rows of seats above the gym floor and about a third of the way down from the gym’s entrance. This seating gave me an unobstructed view of the basketball court so that with my 80-200 mm lens I had the versatility to capture game action all around the court and especially close to the basket.
I’ve often commented that making photographs is like catching fish. Sometimes, you catch a big one. So, out of all the photographs I made at this game there are a few really that I really like. All in all, I enjoyed the game both on and around the court and I especially enjoyed watching my grandson play.