Thank you, Dinos Men's Basketball

After flying for eight-and-a-half hours, I was picked up by Lars Schlueter at the airport on a warm summer day in June. From there we dropped off my luggage and went straight to Montalban Park to run hills with Rich Hesketh and the team. I did my first ‘Rich’s Abs’ and we went to the Jack for my first scrimmage with the team. In the gym, despite getting beat by Thomas ‘TC’ Cooper, I met my new love – our shooting machine – ‘The Gun’. My first day as a Dino was exhausting but the people I had met, the facilities I had seen, and the culture I had experienced reassured me I made the right choice by coming to this foreign place and was looking forward to the next five years. 
 
During my first season, we suffered a tough blow in the Canada West Semifinal by losing to Manitoba Bisons. The next day we had to play the Saskatchewan Huskies for third place to still get a chance at the national tournament. We played terribly and were trailing the entire game. Then, David Kapinga, Jhony Verrone, Mambi Diawara, and I started our full-court press with TC carrying us offensively, as he so often did. After forcing 18 turnovers we ended up winning the game in overtime and secured our ticket to the U SPORTS Final 8.
 

In my second year, TC had graduated and outside of the locker room there were some doubts about our future. Yet after some highs and lows throughout the seasons, we went on to win Canada West and the first-ever national championship for the University of Calgary in men’s basketball. 

This success not only allowed Lars to run around campus for several weeks with two medals around his neck, but also allowed all of us to feel like superstars the following preseason.

We first enjoyed two weeks in Costa Rica with tropical weather in a beautiful villa and played games against American schools. After coming home for two days, we packed our bags and flew across the Atlantic Ocean to the motherland. We toured Germany for another two weeks, allowing Lars' and my family to know the beautiful people we spend most of our time with. The final trip of our preseason allowed us to get to know Andrew Milner’s family better out east in Nova Scotia. After this eventful preseason, we went undefeated until the national championship final where we suffered the worst loss of my basketball career. All the frustration and sadness after that game however was not even comparable to my feelings after the tragic death of Drew only a month later. It is still difficult for me to talk about this event, all I know is that Drew will forever be in my life and I feel beyond grateful to have had the chance to get to know him. 

In our team, we often talk about servant leadership, however, the actions taken by our coaching staff following this event were the real life lessons. I was impressed by their courage, leadership, and selflessness, as well as by the support from the entire Dinos community.

In my fourth year, we had a large roster swing player-wise, but also in personality, with Lucas Mannes, David, Mambi, Lars, and Jhony graduating. We were a young team (except for Brett Layton and I) but still with lots of exciting talent. The start of our young team was in yet another tropical location, the Virgin Islands. Here we gained experience playing together both on the court and on the beach (we’d make a pretty good Spikeball team too), saw the beauty of the island, and built new friendships over a weeklong game of Mafia. Only losing to Alberta in the regular season, we made it to my fourth national tournament, where we gained valuable experience against the defending national champions.

My fifth year… oh well everyone knows how that one went. But at least it gave me the right to one day be an old man on the porch telling my grandchildren how we would have won a second national championship had COVID-19 not intervened. 

The highlights easiest to recall from my career as a Dino are winning two Canada West championships, attending nationals all four years, and winning it all in 2018. However, as cheesy as this may sound, it was the little things that made my time with the team meaningful. 

Little things, like waking up to Jhony using our national championship banner as his blanket or watching HGTV with David and Lars as soon as we got to our hotel room. It is Matt Ellis’ headbands, it is Dan Pearson’s pinky, Coach’s iced tea, and Lucas’ flying shoes that will always keep me reminiscing with a smile on my face.

After completing both my Bachelor and Master of Science in Kinesiology during my five years as a Dino, I hope to stay in the beautiful City of Calgary, studying medicine, and starting my career as a professional Spikeball player.

I want to thank Dan Vanhooren for his investment in the development of not only good basketball players but more importantly in young men that will serve as leaders in society. You have created a strong culture that I am excited to witness continue to grow. I want to thank Pearson for the many fruitful debates, your endless energy and passion, and your sincere interest in my personal development. I want to thank all of my amazing teammates who I have met over the years and made this time special! I want to thank the Sixth Man Club for their continued support of the program behind the scenes and for enabling us to have these memorable experiences.

In my first year Jasdeep Gill and Dallas Karch told me that your time as a Dino flies by. At the time I was thinking these guys are crazy – five years is sooooo long – but here I am telling every young Dino the same thing ... So enjoy it while it lasts! 

- Max Eisele

Dinos Men's Basketball Graduating Athletes: Max Eisele, Brett Layton