Griffiths on Fanshawe basketball
Shortly after in 1892 women's basketball got a kick start as well, and today it is still running strong. With the WNBA, women have the chance to play basketball on a professional level. Here at Fanshawe, we may not be a WNBA team, but our women still are pumping out and trying just as hard as those women playing professionally.
Ally Griffiths is a great example
of this. The two time defender
of the year and Thorndale native
was very excited when talking
about her achievement.
“My goals were to keep an open
mind about the entire season, and
treat every game like it was my
last game and to win defensive
player of the year again,” said
Griffiths. “Individually my greatest
moment was getting defensive
player of the year two years in a
row, but more importantly for a
team was winning back to back
medals at OCAA tournaments.”
When playing on a team you
need to be part of the team;
become a family and have good
chemistry if you are going to
make it. Griffiths said that chemistry
is everything.
“Team chemistry is one of the
most important things. It all lies in
team makeup, it isn't forced or
taught, you either have it or you
don't. If you do great you have
chemistry, if not maybe you
don't.”
Her statement reflects that of
baseball legend Babe Ruth who
said, “The way a team plays as a
whole determines its success. You
may have the greatest bunch of
individual stars in the world, but if
they don't play together, the club
won't be worth a dime.”
Fanshawe's team may not have
been overly successful this year,
but they are looking good in the
upcoming years.
“Next year is looking good,”
said Griffiths. “The upcoming
class is skilled and so next year
getting to provincials and maybe
even nationals is a very real possibility.”
This year the women had set
their goals to make it to nationals,
medal at provincials and keep
every team below 60 points,
unfortunately they were unable to
do any of these this year, but if the
talent coming up is as strong as
Griffiths foretells, then the next
few years will be an exciting time
for women's basketball. Griffiths
had one thing to say to the upcoming
basketball stars.