The UBC Okanagan Heat women’s basketball team has added both size and versatility with their newest recruit.
Kayla McFadden, a Fraser Valley and provincial high school championship all-star, has signed a letter of intent to join Heather Semeniuk’s squad as a freshman for the 2012-13 Canada West season.
Standing at 6-feet tall, McFadden is expected use her lengthy frame to contribute to the team on the defensive end. With her size, and the Heat’s current guard heavy potential squad, she can look to have an impact on the roster right away.
“I hope I am able to bring defensive aggressiveness to the team, and my positive hardworking attitude,” says McFadden. “I think one of my biggest strengths is my ability to play multiple positions.”
“Kayla is an intriguing player,” explains Semeniuk, coach of the Heat. “She adds some height to the roster, something that is lacking on the team currently. Yet she is more than just a big body; Kayla has a lot of length to her, is quite athletic, and possesses a decent set of skills. I hope that she will give the team a lot of lineup options with that versatility.”
Kayla’s high school team, the Archbishop Carney Stars of Port Coquitlam, excelled as an underdog all season long, according to McFadden, and finished sixth at the B.C. AA provincial championship. Playing on a tight knit high school team led Kayla to decide on the Heat.
“UBC Okanagan seems to be a perfect reflection of the team dynamic at Archbishop Carney,” McFadden explains. “My high school team provided an amazing familial environment in which we trusted and really supported one another and it was very important to me that the University I went to also value this philosophy. After the Heat ID camp in April I knew that UBC Okanagan was the school for me; it just felt right. Everyone was so welcoming and I really like Coach Sem’s style.”
In her first year at UBC’s Okanagan campus McFadden will start taking general studies courses, her plan is to eventually transfer into the nursing program.
Focused on basketball since Grade 7 when she gave up dancing to concentrate on her chosen sport of hoops has helped McFadden build the skill set to garner a spot on a CIS (Canadian Interuniversity Sport) program. Her basketball resume includes: winning a silver medal at the B.C. Summer Games with her regional team, playing club with the 3D Elite team this past summer (2011), and the summer of 2010 McFadden played on the Drive Club team with future Heat teammate Jessica Jazzdarehee.
“It is going to be so much fun playing with Jaz again,” says an enthusiastic McFadden.
