Keltos back as Niagara Juel coach

Frank Keltos was an easy choice to return for his fourth and fifth years as the head coach of the Niagara Juel girls basketball program.

“It’s nice to have him back. He is a proven leader on and off the court and we know what we are getting with Frank,” Pelham Juel administrator Don Larman said. “He’s enthusiastic, he is very committed to the program and to the kids and he brings a lot of knowledge and basketball background to the program. He makes it competitive for the kids in the games and in the practices.”

Pelham Panthers basketball, the purveyors of the Niagara Juel and Juel Prep programs, has a policy of posting for the head coaching positions of both team every two years.

Keltos, a long-time high school and travel coach in Niagara, had no hesitation about wanting to be back.

“I feel that I still have a lot to offer kids in Niagara and to basketball,” he said. “I love doing it. Kids play it and I coach it. I still have the fire and the energy and it is keeping me young.”

Keltos loves the entire Juel atmosphere.

“You see the kids from all the different clubs growing up either coaching against them or for them when I was a St. Catharines Rebels coach or in high school. When they all come together at an elite level, it is awesome,’ he said. “It is a culmination and they are getting to the point where they are figuring out that this is where they are going. It sounds cliche but I love watching them compete. It’s fun and I enjoy it.”

Keltos is looking forward to the season and the challenges ahead.

“I think we are going to be a younger team this year. I’m speculating who is coming back but we had only four kids from last year who are going into Grade 12,” he said. “It will be a rebuild kind of year but we are going to have a lot of energy. We are just going to take more shots than the other team and hope more go in. We will get shots up and see what happens because we are not going to be tall.”

Coming out of the COVID pandemic, Keltos is expecting injuries be the biggest challenge, as evidenced by his daughter Brookelyn’s play on Kia Nurse’s elite girls basketball program this summer.

“That is going to be the biggest obstacle judging by what happened this summer,” he said. “We had two torn ACLs, a broken collar bone, a broken leg, multiple sprained ankles and bruises. The biggest challenge is how we train them back to the physicality of the game. It will be really tough.”

Keltos encourages all interested players to try out for the team.

“Nobody has a spot. It is an open team and it is not if you played last year because there was no season last year. It is wide open and I hope kids come out.”

Tryouts for the Niagara Juel and Juel Prep teams are expected to take place in mid-August.

“We just got notification from Juel last week asking the clubs to give their thoughts on whether we are going to open up to be reward to start tryouts Aug. 15 or defer until early September. We are good either way,” Larman said.

Players interested in trying out for the Niagara Juel and Juel Prep teams should register on the Pelham Panthers website at https://www.pelhambasketball.ca. There is no cost to register and it will allow interested players to receive information about tryouts, the league, etc.

“This is to show your interest and you can continue to get communication on what is happening with the program,” Larman said. “Register, give us your contact information and we are going to go from there.”

If everything goes well with regards to the pandemic, Juel is proposing a schedule that starts Dec. 11-12.

“If they don’t, they have another scenario that would start in early February and a third scenario that would start after March Break,” he said.