Creating opportunities
Maritime women’s basketball league will have franchise in Windsor
jason.malloy @saltwire.com
@JasonMa47772994
Lauren Hainstock is excited by the potential of a new women's basketball league set to begin play this spring. The 17-year-old Aylesford resident recently learned the Windsor Edge would be one of the Maritime Women's Basketball Association's six teams.
“Finally having something big like that for female athletes is huge,” she said. “It's going to be a really good opportunity for a lot of girls.”
Hainstock is a Grade 12 student at King's-Edgehill School who plays for the Highlanders prep basketball team. She plans on playing university ball next year but hasn't decided where.
“I find, especially in Nova Scotia, there's not a lot of opportunity for females to play somewhere after college or during college (after the season).”
ORIGIN
The idea for the circuit came to league founder Brad Janes while attending a coaching symposium on Zoom during the early days of the pandemic.
Former national team head coach Lisa Thomaidis was asked about the challenges of keeping the program near the top of the rankings. She said Canada was the only high-end FIBA (International Basketball Federation) nation without a professional women's domestic basketball league.
“That really stuck with me,” Janes said.
He reached out to Thomaidis to explore the idea further. While a professional league was
really expensive, an amateur circuit appeared feasible.
He contacted other people he knew in the Maritime basketball community and before long, the basis for the league had been realized.
Janes, the owner of the Fredericton Freeze, thought back to his own playing days moving through the ranks from junior to senior hockey.
“At 21, I wasn't told you just have to play beer league or play a tournament now and then because there were all kinds of opportunities,” he said. “That didn't really exist for women.”
Janes, a former Basketball New Brunswick president, has always been a big proponent of long-term athlete development.
“How many women are peaking at 21 in terms of their athletic ability and then all of a sudden they’re done,” Janes said. “That was one of the reasons behind the league.”
LOCAL FRANCHISE
One of the people Janes reached out to was Marc Ffrench, who runs the King’sEdgehill prep program.
He was very interested in the league, noting there is currently no place for the U Sports graduate to play unless they go to Europe.
“It’s an idea that’s time has come,” he said.
Ffrench owned a sports management agency that helped place players with European teams in the past.
“The vision that I’ve had for our basketball program here is based on the Europe model,” he said, referring to a system that has pro, academy and schoolbased
teams.
He sees the new league as an excellent opportunity to give players a chance to continue playing the sport at a high level close to home.
“It’s going to be competitive,” he said. “It’s going to look like a pro league; we’re just not paying
the players . ...
“We’ve heard from players that are playing U Sports now right up to players who played in U Sports five or six years ago that want their kids to be able to see them play.”
Ffrench, who will serve as the Edge’s governor and general manager, said they have already had players commit to the Edge program. They are waiting to release the players’ names until after the coach has been announced.
players “The response from the in the player pool has been overwhelming.”
Ffrench sees a lot of synergies possible between the Edge and the King’s-Edgehill program.
Hainstock, a six-foot-one wing with the King’s-Edgehill Highlanders, looks forward to seeing it unfold.
“It’s going to be a really good opportunity for a lot of girls to have, especially younger girls to watch and have people to look up to.”
Windsor’s proximity to Halifax also works in the Edge’s favour, as did the Annapolis Valley’s rich history with the sport.
“It’s such a hotbed of basketball,” Janes said.
Hainstock, who grew up in Kentville and attended Northeast Kings Education Centre prior to this academic year, said it’s nice to have a franchise close to home.
“I would never had expected something like that to be here in Windsor, but they’ve expanded so much,” she said, noting the new facilities around the community. “And I feel like people are finally kind of looking at female sports differently than they were and kind of having a little bit more respect for it and the effort that these girls put into it.”
NOT SLOWING DOWN
While the league has six teams ready to go for the inaugural season, Janes said they have more communities interested in having their own franchise.
“We’re a Maritime league – we have to be on the Island,” Janes said, noting they hope to have a Prince Edward Island franchise for the 2023 season. “We have to get to opening day first before we look beyond, but I think there are a lot of people keeping an eye on us to see how we do.”