More than 15 years after her death, Teckla Anderson remains an inspiration for young basketball players in central Alberta and beyond.
In the first week of July, three Stettler school gyms hosted the 16th annual Camp Teckla. The memorial camp attracted 154 participants this year — and more than 2,000 since it began in the summer of 1997.
That was the same year that Anderson died in a car crash while en route to William E. Composite High School, where the Halkirk native was a Grade 10 student and a member of the senior girls’ basketball team.
“Instead of giving one scholarship to one person, we decided to get a camp going in honour of Teckla and her spirit and her love of basketball, and that way we touch more people’s lives than just one or two a year,” said Camp Teckla director Kim Poapst, a physical-education teacher who coached Anderson.
“Our goal is to go for 20 years, so four more years (of staging the camp). We’re trying to instill caring and helping others to do the best you can with what life gives you, and be a hero in somebody else’s life.”
That hero component was underlined this year as instructors and participants paid tribute to one of the Camp Teckla founders, Rod McElroy, the former Stettler Elementary School principal who died last August at age 55. An insignia on the camp T-shirts recognized McElroy’s heroic status.
“Without Rod, we probably wouldn’t have started the camp,” Poapst said. “He came up with the name, Camp Teckla.
“The biggest thing is, again, a celebration of life. We have to celebrate the Teckla we had for 16 years.
“With Rod, we have to celebrate that he thought of other people, a lot of times before himself. That caring attitude, we try to instill in the kids.”
One of McElroy’s sons, Chris, was in junior high when he participated in the first Camp Teckla. Now a teacher, he remains involved each year as an instructor.
The head instructor is former pro Leighann Doan-Reimer, a Halkirk native who grew up in the same community as Anderson. They were teammates in junior and senior high school, though Doan-Reimer was two years older.
“I played basketball with Teckla, we’re both from Halkirk, and I’ve known her grandparents my whole life, so to be a part of this camp in that way is special for me,” said Doan-Reimer, the former Leighann Doan.
“We both went to high school here in Stettler, so to come back to this school, and to come home to my parents for the week while I do this (instruction), it’s really a fun event in memory of Teckla.
“It’s such a neat thing. It’s a one-of-a-kind thing where you get to be involved year after year in memory of someone, rather than doing a single scholarship and it’s given to one student each year, or something of that kind. To do it year after year, we have so many kids that keep coming back. The coaches that help me are the same coaches, so it becomes an annual thing that we really look forward to. It’s a lot of fun.”
The coaching staff includes former Teckla campers Chris McElroy and Chris Matts, each representative of the camp’s deep multi-generational roots.
“It’s a very family-oriented type camp,” Poapst said on the final day of the five-day camp. “Teckla’s aunts and cousins help coach. As well, their kids are here now (as camp participants).
“One family member makes snacks for each day, and another family member donates the water. Everybody helps, so it’s been a very family-oriented healing process, as far as one door closes and another door opens.”
Now a married mother of three living in Three Hills, many doors opened for Doan-Reimer after her high school years. She was an all-Canadian with the University of Calgary Dinos and played with Team Canada before a pro stint in France. In May, she was inducted into the Alberta High School Sports Hall of Fame.
She continues to give back to the sport as the head instructor at Camp Teckla, which involves kids from ages five to 18.
“It’s kind of a neat thing to kick the summer off for them,” said Doan-Reimer, 33. “They make new friends, they look forward to coming back and seeing the same kids every year.
“I hope the older kids pick up little skills (from this camp). The more time they play the sport, they get more comfortable with it. It helps, if you’re trying to make a (school) team. If five of them come to camp together, it can impact your team, if they’re all here together, practising for the week.”
Poapst was pleased with the quality and variety exhibited in this month’s camp.
“It’s been a great week,” she said. “We have really good kids. I’m excited, because we have, like, 15 boys in the high school group — Grade 10 and above. That’s really nice, because there’s a couple of kids from Camrose that won provincials last year, a kid out of Drumheller that’s really strong, and it just makes our kids better. We have five or six kids from (Stettler’s high school boys’ level). A lot of times, we don’t have (high school) boys — there’s lots of girls. But it’s been really nice this year. And the kids are really respectful and hard-working, so it makes our coaches happy.”
Although it’s a fun-first camp, the coaches push the older players at the same time.
“It’s pretty intense,” Poapst said on the closing Friday afternoon session. “I know Thursday is one of the hardest days, and (the campers) were starting to drag, and the intensity was brought up by the coaches, and (the players) answered the call and worked hard.”