The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

FOLLOWING an historic and a star-studded prep career, Shamar Burrows is set to take his talents to the collegiate ranks.

Burrows signed his letter of intent to join the Wilfrid Laurier University Golden Hawks men’s basketball programme for the upcoming fall 2016 campaign.

The dynamic point guard recently graduated from Ridley College in Ontario, Canada, where he led the programme to an unprecedented nationally ranked status.

Burrows and fellow Bahamian Livingston Bromwell helped the Tigers to highlight their season by claiming the Canadian Independent Schools Athletic Association championship and ended an impressive run of success by the St Michael’s College Blue.

The Bahamian pair also led the talented Tigers team to several tournament wins this past season, including the Dorland Tournament, Standard Tournament, CAIS Championship, The Can-Am Shootout and the Crusader Classic hosted in Grand Bahama over the winter holiday.

Former students locally at Noble Prep Academy, Burrows and Bromwell began to rewrite Ridley history in the 2014 season when they helped to lead the Tigers to their first provincial title in school history - the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations Class A boys basketball championship. They are also both beneficiaries of the exchange programme between NPA and Ridley College.

Burrows, a senior and co-captain for the Tigers, garnered much attention from Division I programmes in Canada and the United States before deciding on Wilfrid Laurier.

“My expectations coming to Laurier, I want to succeed in the classroom and on the basketball court and I want to create an impact right away,” he said. “I know it’s going to take a lot of hard work being a first year rookie but my expectations is to be the rookie of the year and help my team get as far as they can.”

In addition to league play, Burrows also honed his game playing with the Grimsby Basketball Association GBA Elite travel team where he faced off against teams led by his future head coach and Ottowa Next Level.

“My game is more under control now and I’m more accustomed now to running an offence,” he said while at home playing in a series of exhibitions last December. “My jumpshot has really improved but I just want to keep that improvement going, to continue to get my teammates involved, to continue to work on my areas that aren’t as strong and to just be whatever my team needs me to be on the floor.”

Justin Serresse was recently hired as the new manager of men’s basketball operations and head coach of the Golden Hawks following an extensive search.

Serresse, 29, who has served as the lead assistant coach with the Ottawa Gee-Gees for the past five seasons, was successfully selected out of a pool of over 50 applicants to become the 10th head coach in the 53-year history of the Golden Hawks men’s basketball programme.

“We are extremely excited about having Shamar in the programme. I recently got the job so it’s new to me but my lead assistants recruited Shamar last year really hard and as soon as I got the job they advised me that he was the number one priority,” Serresse said. “He was something we didn’t have on our roster. He’s a very good athlete, someone that can get to the paint and create a shot or scoring opportunity. We have big expectations for him definitely to come in and bring something to the team right away. I’m looking forward to him developing his shooting, his decision making but something that I’m not worried about is his passion and his love for the game.”

Originally from Rouen, France, Serresse also has a number of coaching experiences outside of Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) basketball. Among his many posts include the Junior Academy High Performance Coach with Canada Basketball, where he helped identify the best under-13 and under-14 players in Ontario, Canada.

The Golden Hawks begin a new era after the retirement of longtime head coach Peter Campbell. They finished 13-17 last season and lost in the first round of the Ontario University Athletics playoffs.

Located in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, Wilfrid Laurier University is a member of the OUA, a collegiate athletic conference for universities in the region. The OUA, which covers Ontario, is one of four such bodies that are members of the country’s governing body for university athletics, Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS). The other three regional associations coordinating university-level sports in Canada are Atlantic University Sport (AUS), the Canada West Universities Athletic Association (CWUAA), and Réseau du sport étudiant du Québec (RSEQ).