Eric Dortman was the focus of opponents as he led the Ponoka Composite High School senior boy’s basketball team this season. Next year he will be competing at the college level and will hit the floor for the Red Deer College Kings.
Craig Behan, the head coach for the Kings said that Dortman will receive an athletic scholarship and he has watched Dortman develop over the last couple of years.
“What I like about him is he can score, he has the ability right now to finish around the basket, it is hard to find at that level with consistency, it is hard to teach,” said Behan.
He is going to have to work hard on his footwork, lateral movement and defence in order to play at this level and play a lot he will have to defend and he will have to work on that this summer.”
Dortman will be entering into a very competitive team, which went 15-5 in the 2007-2008 season finishing second place in the southern division. Behan said that they had a lot of injuries and didn’t have the depth to compete in the playoffs.
Dortman, who has played basketball since he was five or six years old, has received a conditional acceptance from RDC to study kinesiology with hopes to be an athletic trainer or therapist.
“It was definitely my first choice. It’s close to home and more cost efficient and I know that the program is doing really well,” said Dortman.
Dortman’s parents Terry and Phoebe both played college basketball at Selkirk College in British Columbia.
“We are thrilled, his mother and I both. It is nice to have him close to home. I am really glad that he has made a decision to play where class sizes are going to be smaller and you get a little bit more individual attention,” said Terry. “I am thrilled to death with the scholarship. If we can get some help with Eric’s schooling while he does something he loves is great.”
Both of Eric’s parents are very proud of their son and are planning to travel to RDC next year to watch him play. Terry who is a referee at the college level says he won’t be able to next year.
“It is a pretty good trade and I look forward to watching him play,” said Terry.
Eric thought the scouting process was interesting and looks forward to playing next year.
“It was a good feeling and nice to know that someone wants you to play for them. It gives you that extra motivation to play for them and it puts them in the front of your mind,” said Dortman. “It feels good and I think it will make me better and hopefully it will help them win a championship.”
Dortman’s current coach Blaine Haines is very proud of Dortman and says that in his 24 years of teaching he has only seen a handful of players go on.
“I think he can definitely play college and university ball if he works hard. He is not that quick but he makes good court decisions and knows the game, he is a very smart player,” said Haines. “I would like to see him be successful and I can tell him the differences between college ball and high school but until he steps out there on the court he won’t really know the difference.”
Haines notes that the intensity level will be a huge jump compared to what Dortman is used to with the more experienced athletes and with a tougher conference; but he thinks that Dortman will work hard and do very well.
Behan says that Dortman is a very well mannered student who has been raised well and is extremely coachable.
“He is coming from a great coach in Haines, who is awesome,” said Behan. “When we get guys from Ponoka they always have a good set of fundamentals and are usually ahead of guys because of that fundamental set they are able to develop under Haines.”
Behan thinks that he has a good crop of recruits and that Dortman will have to work hard to earn a place in the lineup.
“I like his personality type, I think he will fit in nicely with the guys. We have a lot of great talent next year. We have some names coming in from the cities and he will have to compete with them and we have a lot of competitive players, a lot of guys that want to play and I think they will push each other next year,” said Behan.
Over the summer Dortman will work on a training program that Behan sent him and is trying out to play on the under 19-club team in Red Deer.