VReds WBB �?? A Brief Look Back

May 10, 2011

It can be so, so quiet at this time of year. The echo of basketballs hitting hardwood may still be heard in the beautiful, brand new Richard Currie Center and there are still some off-season workouts at the Lady Beaverbrook Gymnasium.

Another season of Canadian Interuniversity Sport women’s basketball may be over, but that doesn’t mean the action stops. The behind the scenes action, that is.

True, the University of New Brunswick Varsity Reds came within a whisker of getting to the CIS championship tournament. True, the Varsity Reds put together a dynamite 2010-11 season. And true, UNB boasted a First Team All-Canadian in Amanda Sharpe and the CIS rookie of the year in Claire Colborne.

False, the VReds are resting on their laurels.

“After every season, you take a few days to reflect on everything that transpired and you always go over certain things in your head about what we could have done different, but as the days move on, the program moves on with it,” said UNB head coach Jeff Speedy. “There is too much to do. Not one team in the CIS is sitting back thinking all the pieces are together for next season. The off-season is one our busiest periods. We have an awful lot to look forward to, but there’s still plenty to be done.”

The VReds, of course, will christen the Currie Center next fall. However, the gleaming structure with all the modern amenities will be home to UNB and what a home it is. Talk to any of the anticipated returnees to Speedy’s Program and they can’t wait to top off their first game in the 2011-12 season.

Everyone who follows the CIS game knows UNB has a huge hole to fill with the graduation of Sharpe. She epitomized the Varsity Reds’ program for five years. Not seeing No. 12 in the lineup will take some time to get used to, that’s for sure. Sharpshooting Leah Corby came back for her final season of eligibility and gave UNB more than it could have imagined with her commitment to excellence and prowess from the land of three pointers. Still, there is a solid nucleus coming back and the time is now for second and third year players to step into the program and keep the momentum rolling.

Many of those players were on display at the recent UNB Breakfast for Success, a runaway smash hit that salutes women’s basketball in more ways than one. The event has grown as the VReds’ major fundraiser and is attended by nearly 400 people.

One look around the room with the amount of young female basketball players with their teams, parents and coaches and you know the women’s program is grabbing more than a foot hold in the community.

“We pride ourselves in being immersed in the community in which we play, study and train in and that was reflected by the amount of people we were able to accommodate for our breakfast fundraiser,” said Speedy. “Our players understand they are role models for young basketball players. To see them interact with a player they met while working as a guest coach or as an instructor in one of our games is amazing. It truly shows we have developed an audience. It’s imperative we continue that commitment to the local basketball community.”

Many of the players will be coaching in the UNB girls’ spring league through June and will also be lending hands as coaches for the Junior Varsity Reds competitive mini, bantam and midget teams. There are summer camps and there is continued training with an eye on next season.

“The commitment of these young women is outstanding,” Speedy said. “You can never forget they are student-athletes and the demands to excel in the classroom and continue with off and on court training amount to countless hours. You can push them so far, but so many of our players have incredible inner drive. They are willing to step up to the plate and make necessary sacrifices.”

The past season started with summer club games against the University of Maine, extended into the Accreon Invitational tournament and went right into the regular Atlantic University Sport season. There was a memorable cultural exchange trip to Cuba and the outstanding AUS stretch drive.

This past season was the last season at the Lady Beaverbrook Gymnasium, where so many players, past and present, poured their blood, sweat and tears into the UNB Women’s Basketball Program. The heartbreaking AUS loss and the tough battle to qualify at a CIS sectional after the Atlantic heartbreak in Newfoundland was a tough end to a great season and a great old barn.

The returning players and rookies looking to break into the lineup will all learn from this experience. It showed just how hard it is to win a CIS championship let alone qualify for the tournament. All great incentives to push. And push some more all summer long.

“We’ve hard our time of reflection, but we’ve moved on from what was an outstanding 2010-11 season,” said Speedy. “You have to do that or you won’t be able to find the traction to take another step. We need to move to another step. That works starts now. There aren’t any spectators watching and the results aren’t in the newspaper or on Web sites anywhere. It’s the off-season where we find the heart statistics and that’s what we’re involved with now.”