The Ottawa Rookies Basketball Club

Brief History

Hazel Miner jump-started girls elite basketball in Eastern Ontario with the launch of the Ottawa Rookies Basketball Club in 1973. The Club produced Olympic level athletes and became a multi-level development and competitive program.

In Ottawa during the early 1970’s, the only option open to a girl to play basketball was on her high school team. In 1973, Hazel Miner, the mother of one of these players started a team for girls who wanted to develop their skills and play more games than the 8-10 week high school schedule provided. Hazel assembled a group of teenager players from across Ottawa and a few teachers also interested in playing. She then scrounged up some gym time - in community centers and elementary schools on very small courts but she sought out the best coaching in the area, starting with the University of Ottawa Basketball Coach, Warren Sutton. Once the fundamentals were taught, the biggest issue was finding competitive teams to play against the Ottawa Rookies. Hazel entered her team in the Ontario Ladies Basketball Association League and university women’s basketball tournaments in Ontario, Quebec and the Eastern United States.

Practice time, coaching and games happened seamlessly for the players. The team played a 40 to 50 game schedule per year and travelled extensively outside Ottawa for games.

The Team was called the “Rookies” because they were almost always younger and less experienced than their opponents. However, they quickly became a powerful force. Just high school kids, they often beat major university teams and much older senior competitive teams from other cities. By 1975 the first Rookie, a player from Nepean High School named Donna Hobin, made the Canadian National Team. Donna also played on the first Canadian Olympic Team in 1976.

Andrea Blackwell would later make the Canadian National and Olympic Team. The Rookies produced several more players to receive national team tryouts and who would become all-star university basketball players.

The players benefited from exceptional coaching, most notably Warren Sutton, the Rookies first coach who set the tone for competitive excellence, followed by the stalwart Bob Butler, who championed the Rookies for 15 seasons and John Scobie who, in 1979, guided the team to its first Canadian Senior Women's Basketball championship berth.

The Ottawa Rookies became the first Ottawa team to gain entry into this Championship and with only one player of senior age (the average age of the team was 17). At the time, Ontario did not field an all star provincial team to compete in the national championships (1 of only 3 provinces that didn’t). Ottawa placed 5th at "nationals" that year. Repeating as Provincial champs in 1980, the Ottawa Rookies again represented Ontario at nationals and finished 5th in the country.

A short time after the original Rookies team was formed, Hazel added development teams to the mix, offering an opportunity for girls to play at the junior, midget and bantam age categories. More coaches joined the program, giving more than 150 Ottawa girls an opportunity to play competitive basketball. In 1985, the Rookies won the Ontario Basketball Association Championships in bantam, midget and junior. The Rookies won five consecutive OBA Championships (1984-1988).

After girls competitive basketball took hold in Ottawa, Hazel wound down the Ottawa Rookies Basketball Club in 1989, creating a remarkable legacy that continues to resonate today.