Women's B-Ball celebrates multiculturalism
By Ryan Rogers
Sports Editor
October 31, 2007
 Local children swarmed the St. Denis Centre gym last weekend to get up close and personal with the Lancers Women’s Basketball program.
The Lancers joined forces with Athletes in Action to host a preseason match and a complimentary basketball clinic for dozens of youngsters in preparation for their upcoming season opener on Wednesday, Oct. 31.
Lancers Head Coach Chantal Vallee invited the Ohio-based Athletes in Action (AiA) team to return to Windsor as a final competition to measure her squad against a formidable opponent.
While the Athletes in Action outscored the Lancers 83-64, it still served as a good final tune up for the team before the home opener.
Said Vallee, “Specifically the team like Athletes in Action is comprised with great players who’ve been in NCAA, Division 1, played professional overseas, [and] there’s one girl with some time with the Phoenix Mercury in the WNBA. So for us, it’s a matter of preparing us against tougher, stronger, quicker, smarter competition.” She continued, “If we can maintain the game, pretty close or play well, we think it’s going really well into the season.” The team started off well winning the first quarter 19-12, but quickly became overwhelmed with the tough AiA, who won the remaining quarters 24-12 in the second, a high scoring 25-13 in the third, and a close 20-19 in the fourth to finish the game.
“I thought we started really well, really strong,” said the coach, “It took them (AiA) about a quarter to adjust and get to know our weaknesses and how to beat us, and then they picked it up. Athletes in Action are competitive women, they’re winners and they came up strong and they came up strong and exploded into our weaknesses. But still I thought we did very well against stronger, wiser, smarter and bigger players than us. So I’m satisfied I think it looks pretty good for our season this year.”
Star Erika Valek scored 18 points and eight assists to lead AiA over the Lancers.
For Windsor, Dranadia Roc led all scorers with 12 points, Laura Mullins scored 10 and Raelyn Prince grabbed 12 rebounds. The Lancers played all their 12 players, and 11 participated to the score.
And that’s a good indicator that she is walking into the season with a balanced team of contributors. “We recruited five newcomers and took a walk-on.” She continued, “Everybody played tonight, everybody participated, but the thing is that we’re playing with our 12 players … the entire preseason.” Vallee is impressed with how her new recruits are adjusting to the team. “We’re going to be a good deep team, which is huge. Our rookies fit in excellent and they’re great players and they’ve already adjusted to the level and I’m really, really pleased with my first-year players.”
Having the whole team involved in a game is part of Vallee’s strategy this season. “I think everybody’s going to play. We’d love to keep everybody under 30 minutes a game. We’ve got 22 season games, we don’t [want] to overwork. Everybody has a chance to come in and everybody has a chance to play.”
The basketball clinic after the game served as a chance to collaborate with the Multicultural Council of Windsor and to attract youth to the sport. “We’re extremely involved in our community. During the season we put on over 15 clinics, and we’re at already a dozen this year,” said Vallee. “And this time we [wanted to say] just a thank you to get the kids in the community attracted to our team, and my girls are loving it and they’re great role models.”
Uniting with the Multicultural Committee was a conscious decision to reflect the diversity that has developed on the Lancer team. Said Vallee, “On our team we speak seven different languages and wanted to value that diversity. And so we organized that with the Multicultural Council, and Paul Carter which is one of the most well known referees in Windsor, [who] agreed to do the game for free, and really bought into that idea of multiculturalism, and that is what we wanted to celebrate today.”
Multiculturally, the Lancers are on the heels of having just recruited six-foot-four point guard Iva Peklova from Prague, Czech Republic. “When you recruit it’s all about the opportunity and the experience that the players are going to have to get when they come here,” said Vallee. “When we talked with Iva, in particular, I had the chance to coach in the Czech for three summers, and I just kept in touch with her over the years, even before I got the job here, and then I just offered the opportunity and I think the players are excited when they know they’re going to experience more than just basketball, when they see the overall picture.”
“I think the whole experience is what we’re selling, not just the basketball. And I think players from Alberta, players from Quebec, players from international, are interested in our whole experience,” she continued. “I wouldn’t be surprised if we get a couple more players from Europe because the word is getting passed over there that we train our players well and that they’re happy. So that’s huge.”
And while there is an international and inter-provincial dynamic in the Lancer lineup, the clinics serve as an opportunity to inspire and scout emerging players in the local area, as well.
“We’ve really made a big step in to organizing more clinics,” said Vallee. “We go into practices in high schools and invite high schools to come into our practices, so we’re really open and involved.”
She continued, “Our focus has shifted and is constantly shifting, and we’re really trying to get the best local players to stay (in Windsor). But it takes time ‘cause they want to play for a winning team. And we think we’ve got a good approach of ‘Let’s a get a winning team.’ Once there’s a winning team, the locals will want to stay and play. And that’s [what] we’re hoping to see. But we’ve got five local girls on the team.”
MaryAnne Wright, a Grade 12 from Walkerville High School was invited out and received some special attention while at the clinic. “I heard about it, someone came to our practice at school and kind of told us to come out and participate,” she said.
“I’m actually planning on going to University next year,” said Wright who’s interested in the Lancer team. “They seem like a nice team. They have a lot to teach us,” as she expressed interest in playing varsity ball. “I’d like to, I know I have to practice a lot to get there.”
Point guard Raelyn Prince has been participating in the many clinics for the Lancers. “I love them (the clinics), the kids are so cute, so adorable, I like spending time with them. They’re like my best friends now, they come up to me like, ‘Rae Rae,’ and shake my hands and stuff,” said Prince.
Prince was inspired to register at Windsor after seeing the program in action when she was considering colleges. “My intentions weren’t to come to Windsor, but over the summer before I did actually come, I did go to a few (clinics) and I really enjoyed them. I was like, ‘wow.’ Like these local people are so nice to me, I want to come here, I want to play for these people.”
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