September 30, 2010

Si Khounviseth Feature

By JOSEPH CASSIDY

Sionsay (Si) Khounviseth was born on the other side of the world and traversed across the globe while facing the challenges that made him the leader he is today.

“Unfortunately, I think I missed a lot of my childhood,” said the second-year women’s basketball team head coach, as he talked candidly about his life-long journey. “But, everything I have been through has made me stronger.” 

In 1972, Khounviseth was born in Luang Prabang; a city located in north central Laos where the Nam Khan River meets the Mekong River in Southeast Asia. Until 1978, his family, which included five sisters and one brother, lived an upper-class lifestyle but were forced to flee their homeland to escape a possible assassination attempt on his father by communist revolution leaders that had came to power under the Communist Pathet Lao Movement.

“My father (Khanty) was a diplomat and air force pilot who spoke and wrote nine different languages, but he refused to join the communist revolution and this cost him everything,” Si said. 

The family lived in a Thailand refugee camp while waiting to relocate to Canada, and his father had one simple statement about which country was his No. 1 choice: “Canada is more accepting of other cultures and there is equal opportunity for all,” said Si, as he recanted the words spoken by his father. 

In 1979, their dream came true when the Khounviseth clan made their way to Prince George, B.C., but, unfortunately, Si’s earliest memory is the racism that was present in the B.C. interior in the late 70s.

“Every day, I had to fight to prove myself,” he said.

Sadly, the fight went on without his father when, after seven years in Canada, Khanty Khounviseth was diagnosed with cancer and passed away six months later.

“Friends of our family (Val and John Coates) made my dad go visit the doctor because he had stomach pains, and the doctor diagnosed the cancer but it was too late and had spread everywhere,” Si said. “That was the toughest thing I ever went through in my life.”

At the age of 15, after this life-changing event, Si moved to California to live with his sister, Daoviehan, who had married and settled down on the West Coast. While on the coast, Si played basketball at Delta High School and had a season of malcontent.  

“I didn’t like the coach, but the one good thing was he taught me how not to coach,” he said, as he broke into a smile.

Eventually, Si got homesick and returned to Canada to reunite with his mother and two youngest sisters whom had relocated to Hamilton. In 1990, Si was on the move again when he traveled back west to live with his brother, and his young family, in Vancouver. Si attended Grade 12 at Vancouver Technical Secondary School, worked as a camp counselor at Anvil Island’s Camp Potlatch, and, more importantly, he realized something very profound: 

 “I found out I liked working with kids.”

This was also the magical place where Si made his first foray into coaching by taking on the duties of head coach for the senior girl’s softball and basketball teams.“When I started coaching, I truly enjoyed the experience.”

In 1992, his journey headed east again when Si traveled back to Hamilton to attend his sister, Manola’s, Laotian wedding. 

“I had no intention of staying in Hamilton, but decided to enroll in Mohawk College’s Child-Youth Worker Program,” he said.

In 1995, Si graduated with his diploma and – over the next four years – he worked as a youth program coordinator for different organizations. While attending Mohawk College, he also met his future wife, Nadine, and the young couple settled down in the Hamilton area and became parents to their daughter, Olivia.

“I finally felt like things were on the right track. My life was together, our house was being built, our daughter was born and I had a great job.” 

At the same time as his family and professional life fell into place, Si had been coaching basketball for different clubs throughout the Halton Region, but, in 1999, he took over his first “real” head coaching job at Transway Basketball Organization and in the next eight years walked the sidelines while coaching different age groups to three provincial championships. 

Right after this, Si became head coach at St. Mary’s Catholic High School; a perennial basketball-powerhouse. While at St. Mary’s, the girl’s junior team he coached spent two seasons ripping apart the competition while going undefeated and collecting two consecutive city championships.

In 2006, Si officially became part of the Badger Nation when Chris Critelli named him assistant coach to the women’s basketball team. 

“There are two reasons that I liked Si,” said Critelli, the Badgers Director of Athletics. “First, I liked what (Si) had done with coaching and we stood for the same coaching beliefs; like the run-and-gun offense and defence-first philosophy. Secondly, (Si) had passion for the game and in the game.”

After two years, Coach Critelli retired and Si was named interim head coach for the 2009-2010 season. In his freshman coaching debut, he led the women Badgers to a 13-9 regular-season record which ended in a playoff loss to the powerful University of Windsor squad which – eventually – won a Canadian Interuniversity Sports silver medal. 

In March of 2010, Si’s “dreams were realized” when he was officially named Brock Badgers women’s basketball head coach.

“I was very emotional and that was the day I felt like everything I had put into it had paid off,” he said. “But, I don’t think I would be here without Chris Critelli and Lorne Adams because they believed in me as a coach.”

Si presently lives in Hamilton with his wife Nadine, 12-year-old daughter, Olivia, and seven-year-old son, Kash. In time, the family might relocate closer to the university but, for now, Si will continue to tweak a women’s basketball team that “will go through a wall for him.”

Throughout the off-season Si has been pounding the pavement looking for talent, plus he has a highly-talented returning squad that will be fighting for their first Ontario University Athletics title in 28 years. 

“I am excited about this year’s team because I think we have the right pieces in place,” Si said. “Our guards are in place and, if our bigs come through, we will challenge for the (OUA) title.” 

With a love-filled family life, many well-trusted friends, and the women’s basketball season set to kick-off on Nov. 6, Si Khounviseth is following a simple philosophy instilled in his mind when he was a young boy.

“Before my dad died, he gave some advice: ‘Work hard and look after your family because they are everything.’ But, the last thing he said to me is very important, ‘Without friends you have nothing.’

“I think my dad would be proud of me and what I have done.”