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Kaz Dornstauder doesn’t need to go far to find basketball inspiration — he has two sisters to turn to for advice.
The Grade 12 member of the LeBoldus Golden Suns basketball team is the youngest of four siblings and his oldest sister, Quinn, plays professionally in Spain and has been a member of the Canadian national team.
“She’s been a pretty big inspiration throughout my whole basketball career and she’s always been giving me tips,” Dornstauder said following his team’s 91-59 win over the Winston Knoll Wolverines at the 68th Luther Invitational Tournament. “She’s always been giving me tips and pushing me to go harder and harder and showing me how to play the post position. She’s always a driving force behind my basketball game.”
His other sister, Zayn, is currently playing Division-one basketball with San Diego State.
After seeing his older siblings find success on the court, it showed Dornstauder it was possible to go further than just high school basketball if he worked hard at it.
“They’ve always told me just to keep working, keep pushing. Coming in and being a late-bloomer, I’ve not always had the most basketball experience but they’ve always just told me to keep working at my game and I’ll do well,” Dornstauder said.
In Grade 9, Dornstauder was only 5’7″ but by the time he reached his senior year of high school, he had grown nearly a full foot and now stands at 6’6″.
While his newly-acquired height would help, his coach, Wade Bartlett, said Dornstauder really turned into a dynamic player for them after Christmas at the annual Bedford Road Invitational Tournament in Saskatoon.
“He’s been dynamite for us this year. He’s a late-bloomer. He didn’t get many minutes last year,” Bartlett said. “The funny thing was that he was OK before Christmas – he was good some games and some games not so good – but then we went to BRIT and we ran into some big bodies and they mashed him around and then he decided to mash back a little bit. He’s been dynamite for us since Christmas and he’s made our team so much better.”
Bartlett said having older siblings who have played the game at a high level can definitely help a player
in their development.
“He sees what they’re doing and they’re giving him tips and advice. Any time you get just those little tips about how to get around a defender or where you should stand or how to read a guy’s eyes or arm motion or things like that,” Bartlett said.
LeBoldus will look to win their first LIT championship since it won back-to-back in 2015-16.
“This is a spring board for provincials and city playoffs and you want this competition at this time of the year to see where you really stand and then you have two or three weeks to go back and refine things and get ready for city playoffs,” Bartlett said.
Dornstauder is also looking forward to getting an opportunity to win a championship and possibly add a title to LeBoldus’ trophy case – something his sisters did while they played at the high school level.
“We put in a lot of work, we played a very good game of basketball and I think we deserve to be there and we’re just excited to play,” Dornstauder said. “It’s great competition. The competition here is at a much higher level and it really prepares us for HOOPLA and playing the better basketball teams in Saskatchewan.”
LeBoldus will meet Saskatoon’s Holy Cross Crusaders in the finals. The Crusaders beat the Glenlawn Lions 77-64.
LeBoldus girls searching for second straight LIT challenge cup
LeBoldus could end up sweeping both championships at LIT. The LeBoldus Golden Suns girls team defeated the Saskatoon Centennial Chargers 70-38 to reach the final.
The LeBoldus girls team won the LIT Challenge Cup in 2019.
LeBoldus will match up with the Raymond Comets. Raymond beat the Campbell Tartans 89-65.