How little BALLERS came to be…
We are Chad & Kim Celaire, parents of a toddler & preschooler!
Our family loves the outdoors, recreation & activities of all sorts! Our love for these things are what led to us starting Bee2gether Bikes back in 2007 (a bicycle rental business with locations at The Forks, Assiniboine Park, and Birds Hill Park) and Bee2gether Excursions back in 2009 (a vintage camper rental business).
Both Kim & I grew up enjoying the sport of basketball & had wanted to share this passion for it with our children.
Thus we came up with this vision for the grassroots early childhood developmental basketball program for kids which we call little BALLERS. After much planning research & using our own children as test subjects we launched little BALLERS in the fall of 2022 at Balmoral Hall & Soul Sanctuary/Sept.2022-Nov.2022 with a total of 70 registrants.
We were so excited to see our vision come to life with these ‘ little ones’ learning & developing the love for basketball & all the meantime having fun!
Basketball is a great sport for kids because it is fun, simple and an inexpensive game that builds social skills through teamwork.
WHAT TO EXPECT IN A little BALLERS SESSION
ABOUT OUR THEME SONG
Meet Grant Simpson
Grant Simpson pictured above is the writer and producer of our little BALLERS theme song. He is a Composer, for theatre, comedy, radio and podcasts.
Songwriter and Lyricist. Silent Movie Pianist. As a record producer, Grant recently produced the Claire Ness award winning kids album “Broccoli Farm” which won the Western Canadian Music Awards “Children’s Album of Year 2021” and the Canadian Folk Music Awards as “Best Children’s Album of the Year, 2020”
As a professional pianist Grant has performed in Jazz, Folk and Music Festivals throughout Canada, the U.S., the Caribbean, Mexico, China and Korea. In his pursuit to learn the authentic styles of the past, he has studied and honed his skills through many of the giants of the craft. Chad has the privilege of performing as a vocalist with Grant in various places around Winnipeg.
Meet Ella
Ella is the female vocalist in our little BALLERS THEME song. Ella is a vibrant and creative individual with an excellent sense of humour who grew up surrounded by music and art in the home. She enjoys drawing and painting, playing guitar and ukulele, taking care of her cat Ruby and dog Luna, as well as good food, and curling up by the fire with some hot chocolate and a good book. In fact, she has surpassed the reading frequency of both her parents and grandparents combined. She may have read the complete Harry Potter series six or seven times by the time she was eight...
Meet Nathaniel
Nathaniel is the male vocalist on our little BALLERS song. He currently attends Grade 4 French Immersion and is in the school choir and recently joined The Winnipeg Boy’s Choir. Nathaniel is also a singer-songwriter who plays piano by ear. Speaking of ears, Nathaniel can wiggle both of them!