Sask. women’s basketball keeps inspiring new generations

When Michaela Kleisinger was young she remembers spending Friday and Saturday nights watching women’s basketball at the University of Regina gym, inspired by the talented women on the court in front of her.

Now, years later, she’s still at the U of R on Friday and Saturday nights, but she’s playing for the team she grew up watching.

It’s a blessing, she said, to have grown up in Saskatchewan where women’s basketball has been so successful for many years.

“It kind of makes the goal start from a young age,” Kleisinger said. “To play at such a successful program here in your hometown is obviously something to work towards, so we’re lucky to have that in Regina. You don’t have to go very far to participate in a team that – I’ve gone to nationals four years in a row and the Canada West finals for years in a row now too – so we’re lucky to have that here.”

The success of the Regina program can, in many ways, be traced back to its head coach Dave Taylor. He was named the team’s ninth head coach in 2006. He was an assistant coach for years before that.

Taylor led the team to Canada West titles in both 2013 and 2018. The Cougars have played in the national tournament in 10 of Taylor’s 13 years. He’s the program’s all-time leader in both conference wins and postseason victories.

Taylor also started the basketball league that Kleisinger played in growing up. Development, the coach said, is his livelihood and it’s something that he and University of Saskatchewan head coach Lisa Thomaidis have put heavy emphasis on.

“Probably about ten years ago we had a lot of discussions about what we could do better and there have been some steps taken with that kind of filling in the game – especially in late high school and university,” he said.

That development has allowed for the coaches to be able to stay local and still find some of the country’s best talent.

“We have great athletes here in Saskatchewan,” Thomaidis stressed in a phone interview on Wednesday. “I think the work ethic and the desire to play at a high level and the ability to be coached – all of those things go into what makes an elite athlete so we have a lot of raw talent here and to be able to bring them into both programs and work with them and see them play against some of the best players in the country by the end of their careers is really rewarding.”

Thomaidis has been a big part of the growth of women’s basketball in Saskatchewan. Along with being the coach of Canada’s national team – and going to the 2016 Summer Olympics – the Huskies won the 2016 CIS National Championship and five Canada West titles, (2017, 2016, 2013, 2011, 2006), and they’ve qualified for the national championship tournament 10 of the last 11 seasons.

Thomaidis pointed out that for roughly the last 12 years one of either the U of R or U of S has been competing for either the national championship or Canada West championship. For the last five or six, both teams have been ranked in the top ten or even the top five, she added.

The success of both the U of R and U of S programs has had a snowball effect on younger generations of basketball players.

Young girls, like Kleisinger once was, are seeing the best basketball in the country, played in their own back yard.

“I don’t even think you can quantify how valuable that is,” said Basketball Saskatchewan executive director Megan Panno. “It’s not just that you’re able to go watch (the teams) be successful, those players on those teams are also players that grew up in Saskatchewan.”

Penno said 14 players between the Huskies and the Cougars have Saskatchewan roots. Additionally, in the last couple of years, three players have taken part in the Canadian national team mentorship program.

“Those players all had opportunities to go outside Saskatchewan including down to the States to play NCAA and they all chose to stay in Saskatchewan,” she said. “I think that just speaks to the quality of the programs we’re able to offer here – that you don’t need to leave Saskatchewan in order to be able to show and play your best basketball.”

“I think for young women to come and watch and see a gym with 2,000 people, 2,500 people watching university women’s basketball, that says a lot,” added Thomaidis.

“To have the young ones be able to come and see a packed gym … you don’t get that happening very often and it certainly doesn’t happen at many other places in this country so it’s phenomenal to see the support and it’s great for our up and coming athletes to see the excitement that surrounds these programs.”

Those future Cougars and Huskies will get to do just that in Saskatoon Friday night when the two teams go head-to-head in their fourth straight Canada West Championship. Both teams have already punched tickets to the national championship tournament in Toronto.