Champions Franco 2004-2007-2008, Champions GHAC 04-05-06-07-08-09, Bronze at Ofsaa 05, Ofsaa gold 2007, 2008 and 2009

Many images provided by Randy Smith http://www.randysphotos.ca/

Tiny to take on Fox giants

By Tony Fitzgerald
The Hamilton Spectator
(Oct 11, 2006)

A tiny Hamilton Mountain French school will be getting an opportunity

to play with basketball's big boys.

Academie Catholique Mere Teresa -- enrolment 257 -- has been

invited to play in the prestigious 36th Silver Fox Tournament in

January.

ACMT is the smallest school to be invited to participate in the history

of the Fox. It is also the only true French language board school,

although a Montreal school has played in the past.

"I told our boys this is a sign of respect," said Jaguars head coach

Martin Vaillancourt. "To put us there is a great, great honour.

We're so excited. Even though we're a small school, our boys

play with and against the bigger schools here.

they want to compete with the big ones."

The Jaguars get to rub shoulders with the likes of Eastern Commerce, Runnymede Collegiate, West Hill Collegiate, Pickering Collegiate and Hamilton's Cathedral Gaels. Many of those schools actively recruit players. So does Vaillancourt but they must speak French and he has to convince them they are better off at ACMT.

"When I got here, I looked around to see where I could find players and came across the Congolese community," Vaillancourt said. "Most of those kids are now coming here.

"It's so much fun in a small school. It can be a curse because of the numbers but the good part is I know the kids, how they are doing in class and I know their families."

Vaillancourt spends a lot of time at feeder schools trying to line up players for the future.

He's made ACMT basketball friendly. He opens the gymnasium at lunch time and on weekends so kids can get their basketball fix.

Every second year, he takes his senior team to Hawaii after much fundraising.

Whatever he's doing, it seems to be working. ACMT has developed a competitive basketball program in just five years. Last season the Jaguars made the playoffs in the tough HWCAA league.

Much, if not all, of the credit belongs to Vaillancourt.

"His program is among the best that I have seen," says Dwayne Washington, Redeemer College head basketball coach and an assistant at ACMT. "In the last two seasons he has sent two of his players on scholarships to the U.S, with several more already being looked at by Division I programs."

Vaillancourt, a former CIS player with Laval Rouge et Or, arrived at ACMT and began to build a program from the

ground up.

"I remember sending letters to Cathedral and St. Thomas More after the first year thanking them. They could have beaten us by 100, but they run classy organizations," Vaillancourt said. "Some other schools spanked us pretty bad. They must have hoped we'd change our mind about playing basketball."

Along came Tressor Kalambay, one of the top players in the city. He attracted more players. Soon ACMT was very competitive in the HWCAA. This year they're hoping to make the playoffs again.

There are 100 players to make up three teams, including 16 on the senior squad.

"Our top four players are all guards," he said. "Kenan Etale, a point guard, Alain Grubac, Jacques Kalonji, swing and Steve Mucowintore are all dominant players."

He also grabbed a player from Montreal -- Henrilo Londole, an athletic 6-foot-5 forward, who will help in the front court.

A former Jags signs a music contract

Christian Momat AKA Chris Coast signed with AAO entertainments (Against All Oddz). This contract is with a record label from Toronto to play instrumental beats and participate in songs on their CD and a tour of Ontario to come soon.

Check them out @ www.AAOent.com

Jags back to the Silver Fox in 2009

The team was officially invited back to play at the prestigious Fox tournament in 2009. We are very proud of being invited in back for a third year ! The tournament was held January 9th to 11th and regrouped some of the best teams in the province. The Jags won the Towler/Roach trophy defeating: Montaclm, North Park and St-Francis on their way to the prize.

Kevin Amisso will attend Atlnatic Baptist next seson.

The fifth year guard will attend ABU where Canadian superstar Will NJoku is running the program. Kevin is looking to study business.

HAWAII 09

In December 2007, our team went back to Oahu Island, more precisely to Waikiki, for a dream vacation as well as an amazing basketball tournament: the Palama Settlement Classic invitational. Sun, beach, shopping, restaurants like Duke’s and the Polynesian culture were more than satisfying for our young athletes. The team left on December 15th from Toronto and came back Christmas eve.

Visit out Hawaii page to learn more

about our trip! The team will be back

in the islands in 2009!

Coach Vaillancourt nominated at the All Canadian week end in 08!

Strong of back to back golds at Ofsaa and with his program being so competitive for such a small school, coach V is being nominated for coach of the year in Ontario at the phase one / All Canadian weekend.

The honour comes with a head coach position at the All Canadian all star game, formerly knowned as the Rumble in the Tdot, on March 30th at Ryerson University in Toronto. Coach V and his All Star crew won the game and Elvadas Zabas from NEDA was named MVP.

Check out the website at

www.metrophase1.com/AllCanada

Sponsors

KENAN IS GOING TO HOUGHTON COLLEGE!!

Kenan, the sleeper as described by bball guru Jim Thomas, decided to sign with Houghton College from New York. Kenan will be studying business and will certainly contribute important minutes to the Islanders in his freshman year. We wish him the best of luck and are very proud of him.

Photo Gallery

All star game Hamilton Spectator 09

Steve Mucowintore and Beni Kangu were chosen to represent the Catholic league for 2008-2009. The 20th hamilton spectatore all star boy’s basketball classic will be April 7th and 8th at St-Thomas More at 6h30 as the Catholic team will take on Brant county.

Good luck the our two top players in this great event.

A Star on the road to Success

Kalambay signed a full scholarship at St-Vincent University in Pennsylvania. The 18 year old athlete will be playing basketball for the next 4 years in the United States. In receiving the scholarship Trésor is living his dream, with the benefit of a bursary of $100 000 American over 4 years. More

ACMT BACK TO BACK FRANCO CHAMPIONS!

The Jags win Back to Back Franco titles and push their winning streak to 29-2 vs

French schools in the last five years at Franco !

The weekend of February 7th to 9th, the team played in Mississauga

in their annual provincial tourney vs French programs and beat Timmin’s thériault

in the championship for their second straight titles.

There is a new AAU program in town.

Starting this season, there is a new team in town playing in the US to offer young players from the city more exposure. U-Play is run by coach Washington and coach Vaillancourt. The club’s teams will be travelling to many cities in the US.

Check out www.uplaybasketball.com for more infos.

ACMT sponsored by NIKE for a second year

This year, the LEBRON SOLDIER 2 are the shoes that the Jags will be getting.

NIKE is still looking to work the top small school program around.

The JAGS were proud to be selected once again and will be wearing gears from

NIKE with great pride this season.

The story of ACMT being so competitive with only 150 boys in total

In the school to make 3 teams, the three OFSAA titles of the last springs and the

former players playing in colleges were most likely big incentives for NIKE

To make this move.

WELCOME TO THE SITE OF THE THREE TIMES OFSAA CHAMPIONS

The JAGS season in review!

Another season came to an end at ACMT with numerous highlights. The Jags were invited back to the Silver Fox where they won the Roach Towler Trophy. The team was also invited to the Eastern Commerce tournament, the SOSI and the Pinky Lewis.

Sone notable wins this season came vs Westminister ( won the silver in AA Ofsaa) and Timmins ( won antique bronze in Ofsaa). But no win was bigger than the one at Cathedral on February 10th, where ACMT beat the Geals for the first time at the senior level.

The team lost in Overtime to St-Thomas More in the league semi final, More went on to represent GHAC at Ofsaa AAAA. Jags guard Steve Mucowintore and forward Beni Kangu were named to the all Catholic team and will play in the spectator classic.

Marc Musungayi