Hamilton, ON- Dani Sinclair can remember what it felt like. It was around this time last year during the Holiday break. 

For her whole playing and coaching career, the Carleton Ravens women’s basketball head coach has always been competitive, always pushing herself to be better. She had talked to players her whole career about how they need to practice as hard – if not harder – than they play. 

The Ravens had a couple of losses in the first half of the season. So, when she saw her team start to click starting last December break…

“It was so much fun,” Sinclair said. “It’s funny because they’re obviously having to work harder but everybody was doing it so it was less tiring.” 

It was a dream come true for Sinclair, who’s always pushed them to be better and raise their standard. Now, they were raising it themselves. Now, they were winning an OUA championship in Kingston, beating the Queen’s Gaels. Now, they were winning a national championship in Sydney, beating those same Gaels for the third time that season.

Now, the Ravens are 17-0 in all games this season and the number one ranked team in Canada.

For Sinclair, it all starts back with those practices, when the players took over. “It was their team,” she said. 

As the Ravens took the court for their game against the McMaster Marauders on Dec. 1, you couldn’t help but notice their physicality. 

They grabbed rebound after rebound – 59 of them in total. Second-year forward Jacqueline Urban had 17 rebounds on her own. 

They defended stoutly against McMaster, getting out to a 23-12 lead after one quarter and a 46-25 lead at halftime. They ended up winning it 86-56, holding McMaster to 29.6 per cent shooting. 

Fourth-year guard Dorcas Buisa said they came into the game focused on building confidence and playing team defence. As the game went along, she saw how they were all engaged – from those on the court to those on the bench. 

When they executed defensively, the offensive opportunities came – which they took advantage of. 

For the Ravens, defensive rebounding is non-negotiable. Sinclair knows how rebounding is a skill that takes work. It’s also a mindset. You have to go for it and be aggressive. She saw how determined Urban was to grab those rebounds. 

Determination. That’s the word they use to describe rebounding. “Sometimes when we feel like people aren’t getting the job done,” Sinclair said. “They just need to be more determined to do it.” 

Theresa Burns has coached many players in her 35 years of being a university head coach. When she thinks about all of them, Sinclair stands out as one of the most competitive she’s ever coached. 

Sinclair – then Dani Everitt – played her first three seasons of university basketball at McMaster from 1998 to 2001. She was an OUA champion and CIS Rookie of the Year her first season. An OUA all-star the following two seasons. Beyond all the accolades though is something else…

You could tell by looking at her. “You could see the fire in her eyes when she played,” Burns recalls. “Ohhh…”

Burns felt that intensity and focus from Sinclair when she looked at her. Through all the highs and lows of the game, she would always be locked in – locking eyes with her teammates and coaches. Not putting her head down.

The McMaster head coach saw her passion and competitiveness. Sinclair always wanted the ball in her hands, never shying away from the pressure. 

“The more pressure the better. Give me the ball,” Burns remembers her mentality. She wanted to prove to herself and everybody else that she could get the job done. 

Although Sinclair was an average sized guard, she didn’t shy away from physicality. She would continue to shoot and score, driving into the paint, driven by pure will.  

When the moments got bigger, Burns saw players who wanted the ball but would lose their heads and go crazy. Not Dani though. Sinclair stayed disciplined and composed, staying within her game. 

Burns saw the Ravens stay with their game as well on Friday night. As Burns watched the more physical and experienced Ravens defeat the Marauders, she saw how they own the space defensively – forcing them to go where they want them. 

She knows their details in practice are bang on. “You don’t waver from it and you don’t cut corners anywhere, in anything,” Burns said. “Every single solitary drill, you have to bring that stuff.” That’s what fuels their physicality, rebounding and defence. 

Burns can also see how Sinclair’s Ravens are playing at that level that she did as a McMaster player. “She’s got athletes that want to buy into that,” she noted. “She’s super competitive.” 

Back in 2003 at the Burridge Gym, Sinclair was celebrating her first national title. Her competitiveness had paid off. She had transferred to the Victoria Vikes two years earlier to pursue a degree in teaching and they had just won it all back in her old gym. 

Sinclair knew she wanted to be a teacher so when her playing career came to an end, she found coaching as a good outlet for her competitiveness. Perhaps it blended the two themes: teaching and competing. 

It took a bit of time though. After finishing her Victoria playing career in 2004, she took a bit of time away from the sport. She found herself frustrated. She found she can be relaxed in other parts of her life. On the basketball court however, that’s where her competitive juices are flowing. 

As a player, being competitive was non-negotiable. Sinclair grew up competing against siblings. She was a good athlete but a bit slow-footed and knew she couldn’t beat people with her speed. If I’m not this competitive, I won’t last at this level, she thought to herself.  

As a coach, she won’t talk with her players much about her own playing career. Sometimes though, when the situation is right, she’ll bring up an example. She’ll tell them about letting the game come to them, about not backing down. Just like she used to. Against McMaster, she saw fourth-year point guard Kali Pocrnic face their game plan against her defensively and go through highs and lows. “Trust your training,” she told Pocrnic. 

Every once in a while, the flash backs will come back to her playing days. Players will ask her: Do you think you could have beaten me one-on-one? “Not a chance,” Sinclair responds. “I was too slow.”

But…there’s something else Sinclair can offer being the competitor she is. As a player, she knew she had to understand the game at a high level to make up for it. “Learn the game,” she tells them. Sinclair’s always challenging them to raise their basketball IQ. 

Dorcas Buisa remembers her shift in perspective. The Gatineau guard came into Carleton in 2019, making an impact right away. She played her first season under head coach Brian Cheng – who was Sinclair’s head coach at Victoria when she was a player and then an assistant coach. 

When she met Sinclair and got to know her – as well as assistant coaches Dean Petridis, Michelle Abella and Mackenzie Ash-Smith – she sensed her authenticity. Buisa could feel her energy, passion and love for the game. She could hear Sinclair articulate all that – telling them what she wants clearly. She knew the trust she has with her and her teammates.

As Buisa practiced and spent more time around them, she re-defined her definition of fun and understood how she could always be better. Her coaches and teammates continue to motivate her to reach that next level by keeping it fun and exciting. 

Deep down inside, Buisa feels that commitment to winning and going as hard as she can every day. For her, that’s what fun means. Yes, it can be draining and exhausting at times but when she looks around, she sees everyone else pushing as well. 

When they go hard during those practices together, Buisa finds that being fun. When they come into it focused and ready to compete. When they’re intentional with every drill and every play. When they’re constantly talking and keeping that energy high. “Honestly, just building off that energy,” she said. 

Buisa found herself raising her basketball IQ from conversations with Sinclair. She hears how detailed Sinclair can be when describing something. Sometimes details Buisa wouldn’t even think of. 

Buisa is still learning the game. When they would go over film together, the guard sees where she could do better and where her focus needs to be. During the game, Sinclair will tell her what she needs to focus on as well. 

Day-by-day, through all the practices, film sessions, games and conversations, Buisa feels that trust deepening between them. 

If you walk down the locker room tunnel to a Carleton practice at the Ravens Nest, you’ll hear them before you see them. 

What you’ll hear is true communication – not just noise from the players. You’ll hear them call out different things. You’ll see them moving together. “Like a dance,” Sinclair calls it. 

“Moving together as one group as opposed to five people just playing on their own,” she added. 

That synchronization comes from so much practice that they know how to guard a ball screen or defend a certain action. How players know to move a certain way. They’re doing so together with the players at the centre of it all. 

Just like their head coach had for all her life – they’re pushing each other.

Let’s take a moment to soak it all in. Let’s find Buisa, who sees everyone engaged and competitive around her in practice. She can feel the energy between them all. She can hear them. She can maybe even feel the fatigue setting in from going all out. She can feel how fun it is as well.  

Featured Image: Kevin Lassel/McMaster Athletics