6 foot 8 inches, average points per game 15.8, 9 rebounds per game, shooting average 48.1. These statistics belong to Ravjot Dhaliwal, a 17- years-old recent graduate of Tamanawis Secondary.
Dhaliwal, like many Canadians, played hockey from an early age but his Grade 8 coach encouraged him to play basketball. As he started to play basketball, he had to choose between the sports and at the end, basketball won his heart, “I kind of just fell in love with it.”
Although Ravjot had never comprehended he would be a basketball player, nature definitely had something brewing for him. He has always been tall and at the age of 13, Ravjot hit a growth spurt to 6’ 3”. He is now 6’ 8” and was simply built to be a basketball player. However, he was not naturally talented at basketball and says “the first year I was horrible. I could barely finish a layup, was uncoordinated and could barely use my left hand.”
Perseverance, hard work and endless support has helped Dhaliwal get to where he is now. He credits his Coach Surinder Grewal, “When I was in Grade 9, I was told I was one of the fundamentally sound players in the province. Grewal trained me and it’s because of him and the endless amount of hours he spent with us.”
Dhaliwal has received countless accolades and the MVP title on more than one game or tournament. But for Dhaliwal, one of his biggest achievements was in Grade 9 when he “had to decide between playing for a local team and trying out for the provincial team. Everyone told me that I was not going to make the provincial team but I went out for the experience of it. Surprisingly enough, I was chosen to be on the red team, which was the second string. But a week later, I got a call saying that I was moved up to the other team.”
Dhaliwal has had to face a number of challenges, as an athlete, student, adolescent and a young role model. Being an athlete, Ravjot’s toughest challenge was leaving his hockey team, but he says “Hockey helped me a lot with basketball. It helped me become physically fit and mentally strong which gave me an edge over the other players.” Academically, Dhaliwal had to maintain a 3.4 GPA, which is required to stay on a sports team, and he had to be quite organized to maintain that balance. He credits his academic success to being organized and not procrastinating, which will further help him at university, where there are numerous away games and athletes are expected to “write exams on the bus and the plane. They don’t give you a break just because you’re an athlete.”
Being an adolescent is tough enough these days with pressure from all aspects of your life, for Dhaliwal it was making mature decisions between going out/socializing or putting in an extra 4-5 hours of practice. “I look back at everything and realize that it was all worth it. Making those extra 500 shots instead of sitting around for a few hours because now I have my education paid for,” says Dhaliwal adding “My dad is a successful business man because of his hard work. It made me realize that it’s not always worth going out and sacrificing your hard work.”
He is grateful that basketball kept him focused, out of trouble and materialized into a career aspiration. “I realized many Indian guys, who were so good, fell off because they got into the wrong crowd. I wanted to prove to myself to stay on the right path,” adds Dhaliwal. “I didn’t get everything given to me, I wanted to work for a scholarship and get my school paid on my own. Basketball helped me do that.” He has received scholarships from the RCMP, HSBC Bank and UBC’s Quinn Endowment. He will be attending the University of Alberta where he received a full scholarship to play with the Golden Bears.
As a role model, you are responsible for individuals who look up to you and your actions take on a different meaning. Dhaliwal considers himself a role model and wants those younger than him to see what he has been able to achieve through hard work and in return, do the same. For example, he made the provincial team three years in a row and when he first made the team, he had only been playing basketball for one year. He wants other students to believe in themselves and “think that if he can make it on the team, then why can’t I? It is a person’s work ethic that can help them achieve their goals. I am an average kid but I worked hard.”
As an athlete, you have to be aware of issues such as bullying and Dhaliwal says, “It’s hard to stop, but in our school, we had anti-bullying days where all the athletes wore pink; it’s a symbol for change and acceptance.” He also took part in a mentorship program to mentor youth, who were making the transition to high school to stay on the right path.
At first glance, Dhaliwal is a basketball player, however if you look deeper, he is also a role model and future entrepreneur. He plans to complete his Bachelor’s degree in Commerce with a minor in Kinesiology so he can assist his father with the family business. His dream is to play basketball professionally in Europe. “There are a lot of professional leagues, people only talk about the NBA here. It is a great goal but realistically playing in Europe professionally is the best opportunity for me,” adds Dhaliwal.
