Rec basketball league switches moniker
Posted Nov 27, 2009 By Charelle Evelyn
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EMC Sports When members of the Osgoode-Rideau Basketball Association (ORBA) travelled to tournaments, those unfamiliar with Ottawa geography would often confuse their location and team name.
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Bedrock teams, like this year's bantam boys, will have to get used to a new league name after the Osgoode Rideau Basketball Association re-branded itself as the Ottawa South Basketball Association.
When enquired as to the location of "Osgoode Rideau Bedrock," league founder and president Doug Stuewe said his favourite response from his players was that "Bedrock was not a place, but a state of mind."
That state of mind is something that will remain constant despite the league undergoing a name change in September.
Wanting to better reflect the area where the players come from, ORBA has become the Ottawa South Basketball Association.
"Quite frankly, Osgoode and Rideau, which were our townships when we first started, technically no longer exist," said Mr. Stuewe.
The league's vice-president competitive, Bruce Thompson, recommended the name change. As someone who works in real estate, Mr. Stuewe said he is accustomed to speaking in terms of rural Ottawa south and that is seemed to be a smart thing to do to lay claim to the area.
The league wanted to sound more accessible to the growing communities such as Riverside South and Findlay Creek, explained Mr. Stuewe.
According to Mr. Stuewe, name change costs were kept low because they kept the original Bedrock name and dinosaur logo. There were administrative costs in registering the name with the Ontario Basketball Association and changing the letterhead and some merchandise items.
"To start all over again would be a major cost," he said.
Founded in 1994, Bedrock began as a 12-girl recreational team. Fifteen years later, it has expanded into a full co-ed league with more than 200 players.
"Our intent is to help kids out here to advance skills and expand what will become a very strong recreational league," said Mr. Stuewe, adding that kids who play for Bedrock usually end up starting on their school teams.
Mr. Stuewe acknowledges that there is a lot of competition for people's time, which leads to having more players than others in some years.
"Our philosophy is we work with what we have and enjoy our time together," he said.
The league is hoping that the new Ottawa South moniker will yield more members to field more recreational teams.
"It's really addressing every kid in every school in every village in the area," Mr. Stuewe said.
With a population base that's much smaller to draw on than teams in bigger cities, Bedrock players are known more for their tenacity than their inherent skill.
"But I've never seen a single Bedrock team back down," noted Mr. Stuewe. "They just work harder and that is the Bedrock state of mind."
