A childhood dream is becoming a reality for an Okotoks sharpshooter.
Countless hours spent in the gym and on outdoor courts has paid off for Foothills Composite senior Makayla Porteous as she's set to continue her basketball career at the collegiate level with Grande Prairie Regional College Wolves in the fall.
“The process started late-January and it took me a couple weeks to a month to decide if I should go up north or not,” said Porteous, a guard. “I then I finally decided, yes, I want to pursue my dream.
“I’ve had this dream of playing college basketball since Grade 7, so I thought I’m going to take this opportunity and take this new adventure in my life.”
In the absence of Grade 12 basketball, Porteous relied on earlier game film and connections through club basketball to get her foot in the door with the GP Regional Wolves, who compete in the Alberta Colleges Athletic Association against the likes of NAIT, Keyano College and Concordia in the North Division.
“It was difficult at first because we didn’t have high school so I had to rely on game film from Grade 11,” Porteous said. “But luckily, I played for a club team in Calgary, (Supreme Hoops) and my coach knows some other coaches.
“He was able to assist me in getting in contact with Bill Bradley, the coach at Grande Prairie Regional College.”
She sent over film and held Zoom discussions with the bench boss leading to her earning a spot on the squad.
“I was a little concerned, especially when the schools announced we weren’t going to be playing high school basketball,” she said. “I was worried there wasn’t going to be any sports for the next year or two because of COVID as our provincial games and everything got cancelled in Grade 11.
“But I was grateful that Bill was able to use my Grade 11 footage.”
Porteous played on the Falcons senior team in her Grade 10 and 11 seasons, the latter cut short in the late-stages due to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Competing for her school and for Falcons head coach Vince Hunter, since her Grade 7 year, was a privilege for her.
“It’s taught me what it means to be a hard worker and never give up,” she said. “Even if you’re down by 20 or whatever, no matter what the score just to work your hardest and know that you gave it your all. And that all of the training and practices that we did was worth it.
“I was grateful to have him as a coach because he’s always held me to a high standard and told me how to get better and what I need to do to improve.”
Porteous, 18, has made the most of opportunities availed to her to get on the hard-court from some limited games last summer at the club level to working on her game on outdoor courts in Okotoks.
“Over the years it’s definitely been my shooting that’s brought my game level up, especially from the three-point line, over the past year I’ve been more consistent with that,” she said. “With everything shutdown I’ve just been using an outdoor court in Okotoks, getting my shots up, working on my handles and I find different videos on YouTube on different handles I can do and then go into a shot right away after so I’m quicker.
“And I have been working my trainer MK (Mathieu Kalenga) as well, that’s been nice to have someone else there to help me and make me a better player.”
Porteous will be studying kinesiology at GP Regional with plans to transfer to the University of Alberta following her undergrad with the goal of becoming an occupational therapist.
“I’m really excited to live in (residence) because I’ll be living with some of my teammates,” she said. “I’ve been in contact with them and keeping in touch with them daily and it will be nice just to give myself the opportunity to live on my own.
“And learn how to do things myself without having to rely on family.”
Given all of the challenges the pandemic has put on young students, the goal of reaching college basketball has been massive for Porteous as a motivating factor.
“It has been hard the past year and a half for me because I had been working towards my Grade 12 basketball year forever and every summer I train relentlessly, go the court pretty much every day and go to the gym," she added.
“Knowing my hard work over the past year and a half over quarantine and everything we’ve gone through with the pandemic, it’s nice knowing I have that reward where I get to keep playing next year because not everybody has that opportunity.
“I’m just really blessed that I get to play next year and continue.”
