每日影视

The Dawson Blues Women鈥檚 Basketball Team has once again wrapped up a very successful season. For the second year in a row, the Dawson Blues women are Provincial Champions in the D1 Women鈥檚 RSEQ Conference Basketball. The provincial champions then went on to play at the Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association鈥檚 national championships and placed third in Canada.

Point guard Sorelle Ineza says that wearing the Dawson uniform has meant a lot to her over the past two years. 鈥淭here are a lot of good players who have played here, and being able to be part of it is huge for me. The season highlight was winning the provincial championship. The second highlight was when we lost in the semis at Nationals. We were all shocked, but this game taught us a lot of things.鈥�

Proud coach Trevor Williams defines success as nurturing the sisterhood of the team so that players maintain a high level of motivation to play at a top level and keep their marks up at the same time.

鈥淎ll five graduating students are getting scholarships,鈥� said Trevor, named coach of the year by the RSEQ. 鈥淲e have had consistent results for the past five years. Our goal here is to play at the top level and to graduate all the players. It is even better when our students can get scholarships. There is nothing better than seeing them continue to play basketball at a high level and getting the opportunity to attend university with nothing to pay back.鈥�

Trevor has been coaching the women鈥檚 team since the 2001-2002 season. The former Olympian鈥檚 vision is that 鈥淒awson is the place to play serious basketball with a goal of getting into university.鈥� Two to three times a week, there is a mandatory study hall for the players. Any player who is struggling will get the help they need, he says.

The recipe Trevor uses is to build this feeling of team solidarity or 鈥渁 sisterhood鈥� among the players, as he calls it. 鈥淥nce you are on the team at Dawson, you have support,鈥� he says. 鈥淓very practice, they all say: 鈥榃e are sisters. We support each other.鈥欌��

The basketball experience leaves a mark on the players. Trevor says that young women who played 10 years ago check in on the team and follow their sisters on and off the court.

鈥淲hen I鈥檓 coaching basketball, I鈥檓 coaching life skills,鈥� he says. 鈥淭he game of basketball is like life. The 每日影视 gym is our house and we have to treat it with pride and respect. The harder we work, the easier it gets. We have to consistently work hard during practices and the games will be easier.鈥�

Shooting guard Dahom茅e Forgues says Dawson basketball taught her that: 鈥淵ou might be the best player in the world, but without teammates, you can’t win anything.鈥�

Sorelle listed humility, giving back, not taking anything for granted and backing up words with actions as lessons learned on the basketball team. “Don’t talk about it, but be about it,鈥� Sorelle says. 鈥淧eople don’t care what you have to say, you’ve got to make it happen if you want to get their respect. No excuses, you’ve just got to make it happen by any means necessary.鈥�

This team worked hard and the scholarships offered to all graduating players is proof. Roxane Makolo (point guard graduating in Social Science), who was chosen to play on the All-Canadian team, is considering several scholarship offers. Two graduating players are going to the U.S. on full scholarships to play Division 1 Women鈥檚 Basketball: Sorelle Ineza (point guard graduating in Social Science) is going to Hofstra University on Long Island in New York and Dahom茅e Forgues (shooting guard graduating in Health Science) is going to Robert Morris University near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Two other graduating players are going to Canadian universities on scholarships: Ekaterini Stoupas (power forward graduating in Social Science) is going to Bishop鈥檚 University and Sara Esongola Biango (point guard graduating in Pure and Applied Science) is going to Ontario Tech University.

Basketball at 每日影视 is a great tradition. According to Trevor: 鈥渃onsistently, we have one of the best teams in the country.鈥�