By Curtis Gordon
The women’s basketball team has recruited a new player from the Northwest Territories. Mali Straker, a 5’8 guard from Yellowknife. She is set to join the team next season.
Straker, who began playing basketball in Yellowknife at age six, often found that the competition and access to quality training in the far north were limited.
“We had an all-girls program that I joined, and my mom would coach me,” Straker said.
“Once I got older, I started playing on (Yellowknife’s) high performance team, that ranged from grade six to grade twelve for practicing, because there were very few of us. I did that up until grade 10.”
At the beginning of her grade eleven year, Straker moved to Calgary, Alberta, to pursue greater competition and exposure, with the hope of eventually playing basketball at the university level.
“I had great coaches, great teammates, but it was just hard to develop as the player that I should be if I wanted to play at the post-secondary level,” Straker said.
Once settled in Calgary, The COVID-19 pandemic caused disruption to the end of Straker’s high school season. Provincial championships were cancelled at the end of her grade eleven season.
Straker decided to return home to Yellowknife, a decision she is happy she made.
“I decided to move back to Yellowknife, which was a really good decision because there are little to no COVID cases here, so we were able to still train, and I was able to practice throughout the summer.”
As the summer came to an end, the roller-coaster of uncertainty continued for Straker. She went back to Calgary, with the expectation of high school sports and in-person classes returning.
Although the season never started, she was able to practice with her team. Unfortunately, the second COVID-19 lockdown put an end to training in Calgary. Because of this, Straker returned home to Yellowknife once again.
“I came back home for the holidays early and just kept putting it off, wondering when a good time was to go back and then it ended up just being my decision to stay,” Straker said.
Straker’s situation highlights the difficulties that many student-athletes have had in trying to make the jump to the next level during the pandemic. Fortunately for her, she had already been in contact with Laurentian in years prior and was able to commit to the women’s basketball team in December of 2020.
This took the pressure off, as she did not feel the need to return to Calgary. The loss of her senior season in high school did not affect her ability to make it to the university level and allowed her to focus on her training with fewer restrictions in Yellowknife.
Straker said “this year I feel like last-minute decisions aren’t really an option. I was really lucky to have that connection” with Laurentian during recruitment.
Straker has high potential with the women’s basketball team. She has the ability to attack the basket and loves to create for others off the dribble. She is also a high-energy defender and a good three-point shooter.
Straker says “I’d like to call myself a playmaker. I love looking for others.”
Straker will study psychology at Laurentian and says going to university will be “a whole new step in life.” She looks forward to being on a structured team again, as she continues to prepare herself for next year.