Justin Hinrichsen knows he follows in the footsteps of hallowed high tops, but he will do it his own way.
The Spectrum Community School basketball star is the son of Eric Hinrichsen, former two-time sa国际传媒 high school MVP, two-time CIS (now U Sports) national MVP, University of Victoria Vikes national champion and 2000 Sydney Olympian.
“My dad has helped me a lot and has been supportive in everything I do,” said the younger Hinrichsen.
That included letting his son find his own path when it came to majoring in a sport as Justin was also a very good player in soccer with Gorge FC and is a triple-threat athlete at Spectrum in soccer, volleyball and basketball.
“My dad has been through a lot in sports and if I have a question, he has an answer,” said Justin, a six-foot-four modern wing forward, who can shoot the three-pointer, play defence and rebound.
“But my dad doesn’t talk too much about his old days, maybe an occasional story. He’s letting me have my own time.”
And what a time it is with Spectrum ranked No. 1 in sa国际传媒 for the first time in school history. That Quad-A ranking will be tested this week beginning today in the sixth UVic Alumni High School Tournament, put on by Vikes alumni, which is fitting considering the Hinrichsen family connection to the institution. Not only was dad Eric Hinrichsen a national champion with the Vikes and two-time CIS (now U Sports) national MVP but mom Trisha Hinrichsen (nee Fieldhouse) was also a varsity athlete with the Vikes in soccer.
Spectrum is led by Hinrichsen, Tyler Felt and J Elijah Helman, the latter with also a notable familial connection in hoops with brothers Izzy Helman and Noah Helman current members of the UVic Vikes and Camosun College Chargers teams, respectively.
The scary thing, at least for opponents this season and next, is that Hinrichsen, Felt and Helman are only in Grade 11.
“No one had heard of our school before in boys’ basketball but now we are No. 1 with a target on our backs,” said Justin Hinrichsen.
“This is the first time we have been invited to the UVic tournament.”
The dream is a sa国际传媒 high school championship, which his dad won as MVP in Double-A in Grade 11 with the Carihi Tyees of Campbell River before moving up to Triple-A (now Quad-A) in Grade 12 and being named sa国际传媒 tournament MVP even through the Tyees placed third. Eric Hinrichsen, a dominating marvel on the boards in his UVic career, went on to play with captain and fellow-Islander Steve Nash as quarter-finalist sa国际传媒 went 5-2 in the 2000 Sydney Olympics. The elder Hinrichsen also played pro in Europe.
Justin Hinrichsen still has time to figure out his post-secondary court future, either in U Sports or NCAA, and said he has not yet decided where he will play. What is looming, however, is a potentially dominating two years on the high school hardwood.
Spectrum opens this morning in the UVic Alumni High School Tournament against the Lambrick Park Lions. The sixth annual tournament runs through the weekend and features top high school teams from sa国际传媒, Washington and California.
