This article is brought to you by Allan Bush at CIBC Wood Gundy Waterloo
Tri-County Thunder’s most winning coach, Allan Bush retires after 3 decades in the game.
Bush played basketball from 1979-84 at Waterdown DH. During that time he coached the WDHS Jr then Sr girls team. He also refereed his first high school game in 1983. Later in the 90’s he became the president of the local Basketball Referee Board and VP of Provincial OABO.
Between 1984-2000 he refereed both high school and OUA women’s basketball.
It was in 2001 that Bush started coaching with the KW Lightning. As the president of KW Lightning, he turned the program into the best and biggest all-girls basketball program in Canada. His goal was to never turn down a girl who wanted to play basketball. He also started the summer AAU program and mandated female coaches be part of every coaching staff.
Bush would bring in University coaches from Canada and the United States of America to provide skills camps for the girls in the KW Lightning and Tri-County Thunder programs.
He was also a sponsor and a key member of founding a committee for creating the highly successful JUEL League.
Highlights
- 2008 Won NY state AAU Championship. It was the first time a Canadian Team qualified to AAU Nationals
- 2009 Won OBA Juv Girls DIV#1 Gold Medal
- 2010 OBA team was the first OBA 15 ranked team to beat a number 2 ranked team in Ontario Cup Championships
- 2010 First club team to beat the ELITE Ontario Provincial team U17 (coached by Basketball Canadian Coach, Jodi Gramm)
- Attended AAU tournament in Chicago with local girls cut from Team Ontario. Brooklynn Wright performed tremendously that tournament leading to a great deal of interaction on Twitter and via email for the local stars.
- 2011 Tri-County Juel Consolation Champion
- 2012 Tri-County Thunder Juel finished 3rd
- 2013 Assistant Coach Tri-County Thunder Juel to Charles Kissi
- 2015 Tri-County Thunder Juel finished 3rd
- 2016 Tri-County Thunder Juel finished 3rd
- 2017 Tri-County Thunder Juel finished 2nd
- 2018 Tri-County Thunder Juel finished 2nd (20 – 2)
Bush has also sponsored players to camps on Provincial Teams and donated money to provide University scholarships.
The Tri-County Thunder program thanks Allan Bush for his commitment to the program and winning efforts!
Check out this video of his surprise retirement event:
