Barry Wright
Calling the professional basketball season Kendel Ross just had in Spain a success would be an understatement.
Playing for the Madrid team C.R.E.F Hola, the former Northern Collegiate star won the Division Two Spanish league championship, losing just a single game in the regular season and playoffs.
Then she was named the league's Most Valuable Player.
The 27-year-old shooting guard led her team in scoring, averaging nearly 15 points per game, to go along with 6.9 rebounds and 1.7 assists.
She shot just under 53% from the floor, including 46% from three-point range and was an 81% from the charity stripe.
“Our team was really diverse,” she said. “We had six different nationalities represented on our roster — Canada, the United States, Jamaica, Latvia, Portugal ,and of course the girls from Spain.”
She’d never been on a team so close-knit, she said.
“I felt really comfortable this season. (As a veteran) I fell into a leadership role. We worked really hard and it was just fun to be around each other.”
She especially enjoyed plying her trade in Madrid, a city she called incredible.
Ross has only been home in Sarnia a short. After the Spanish hoops season ended in late April she hiked the Pacific Crest Trail in Northern California and Oregon with a teammate.
“The whole goal was to get off court for a month and clear my head,” said the graduate of the University of Dayton in Ohio.
Her Spanish team, which is joining the First Division next season by virtue of its second division championships, wants Ross to return for the 2015-16 season.
But she has yet to make a commitment.
“Every year is kind of a fresh slate,” she said. “Where am I in my life? Where I am in my basketball career? What do I want next?”
The decision will hinge on what feels like the right fit, she said.
“It's up in the air right now.”
In the interim, Ross and fellow Sarnian Melissa Rondinelli, who is playing professionally in Germany, will keep busy with a new basketball camp they’ve created.
The Valhalla Elite Prep Academy is for male and female high school athletes, as well as those heading off to post-secondary school.
For more info visit the website at http://valhallaepa.wix.com/valhallaepa.