By Jim Coggins

MVP Marek Klassen led Yale Lions to AAA championship.

The White Rock Christian Academy Warriors faced the Yale Secondary School Lions from Abbotsford.

But it wasn’t a classic ‘Christians being thrown to the Lions’ scenario, even though the Lions did prevail            49 – 40 in a hard-fought contest that the Warriors had led by as much as 11 points.

For one thing, the Lions’ assistant coach was Dave Klassen, who works with the Christian sports ministry Athletes in Action; and the Lions’ star player was Klassen’s son Marek.

Furthermore, in spite of the fierce competition on the court, the two teams have great respect for each other.

With an average of 33 points per game in the tournament and a game-high 25 in the final game, Marek Klassen was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player.  

But his character received as much notice in the press as his athletic skill.

Speaking about Marek, Yale coach Al Friesen told the Vancouver Sun: “He’s one of the finest leaders I’ve ever coached . . .  He will do what he needs. I tell the kids it’s like washing feet.”

The Sun also quoted Marek’s teammate Jordan Blackman: “He’s a great leader . . . Every day he brings us all together . . . He leads our team not only on the basketball court but off it as well. He’s a great guy.”

An article in The Province focused on what Marek learned from his father when Dave was serving as chaplain of the Vancouver Grizzlies and now the BC Lions. It was his “upbringing and experiences” that made him into a role model, the article concluded.

Marek remembered being around his “dad’s friends” – people like NBA star David Robinson, who would stop to shake hands with kids.

Marek said: “It’s about more than being the best, because you have to have character, too.”

The White Rock team has outstanding Christian players, of course.

A Province article profiled White Rock coach John Dykstra. As a player, Dykstra won the provincial slam dunk competition two years in a row in the 1990s.

But Dykstra played down that accomplishment: “I was egotistical. I was arrogant. I was a horrible teammate. All the things that I would never, ever want anyone to be.”

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Dykstra credited former UBC coach Bruce Enns with turning his life around after he broke three vertebrae and almost became paralyzed.  

“I wanted to do anything for him, because he believed in me,” Dykstra said.

“I wanted to be that person who he thought I was – and I wasn’t. He believed that I was an inspiration. So I tried to be that, and I’m still trying.”  

“Isn’t that great?” Dykstra told BCCN, commenting on the positive press Christians have received around the championship tournament.

White Rock has had remarkable success for a small school of only 400 students from kindergarten to grade 12.

The senior boys basketball team has been in the top four 11 of the past 13 years. “But we don’t need to get glory for our school,” Dykstra said. “All the glory goes to God.”

Dykstra said he tries to “use sport to teach life skills” – things such as “character and loving your neighbour and doing one’s best.”

He said his goal is to have “our guys act the way a Christian should act,” and that he hopes “people will see something different in the character of these young men.”

He added, “We’re not trying to be better than anybody, but to be the best we can, to use all of our abilities – and that is how God intended it to be.”

These are the same qualities Dykstra sees in the Klassen family. “That family is first class,” he said, “and Marek is amazing.”

Dave Klassen expressed great respect for the White Rock team. “We expect from them that they will always give the best they can.  Winning is not the priority, but giving all you have.”

Klassen was also pleased with the positive coverage Christians have received.

“Spirituality is intriguing for a lot of people,” he said.

He noted that players who have faith “come and go in the secular school system” – and there are also other Christian schools whose players demonstrate Christian character. “If players live true to their belief system, their character shines through.”

Klassen called his son “a committed Christian and a great kid.”

He pointed out that Marek’s character also came out in his decision to attend Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego next year, a place where he can get a good education as well as play basketball.

“Sport doesn’t last forever,” the older Klassen said, adding that his goal has been to instill Christian character in his sons so they will make good decisions. “I am more concerned about my son after age 30 than now,” he said.

“Marek needs to take the next steps to be a productive member of the community and to glorify God.”  

April 2010