The past year has been that of ups and downs for Del Valle High School’s Shanay Washington. She finished her sophomore year with District MVP honors and numerous all-state honors after averaging more than 20 points per game. She was being recruited from top schools from all over the country. She was invited to participate in the USA Basketball Youth Developmental Festival, a near necessity if you want to have a chance at making an Olympic team.
Four nasty words would bring Washington’s amazing 2007 crashing down – anterior cruciate ligament tear. In a mid-July NCAA certified evaluation tournament in Atlanta, Ga., she tore the ligament in her right leg.
With 2008 came a commitment to Baylor and a chance to get back out on the court.
Washington made three trips to Waco during her recruitment. She went to the Baylor elite camp last summer, made an unofficial visit with her mother this fall and also went with her high school team just a few weeks ago to watch a home game.
Despite such an explosive player suffering a major injury, none of the schools recruiting Washington backed off. In some ways it was a blessing in disguise according to her high school coach Tawni Angel.
“If there’s one blessing in all of this, it forced Shanay to rest her body,” Angel said. “I mean with the AAU circuit it is non-stop.
The injury was repaired surgically August 17 and rehabilitation took Washington through the fall. She had the benefit of two fulltime trainers at Del Valle that could help her stay on top of her rehab and her conditioning.
“I really didn’t mind the rehab; it was the getting back in shape and the running that got me,” Washington said. “I got introduced to the weight room and working all the time.”
She’s been practicing with the team since the holidays but has seen only a few minutes here and there while rebuilding her strength and conditioning closer to 100 percent.
“I’m still working towards (100 percent), I’m pretty tough but I’m still working towards it.”
Washington has always been a gym rat and the heart ache of not being able to play was the first emotional hurdle she had to deal with but through it she found opportunity.
“It was hard because I really wanted to be out there,” Washington said. “It taught me a lot. I feel I’m smarter now. Now that I’m a coach, I’m a player, I’m a leader. I’ve grown a lot with this injury.”
She had to learn to support her team not by example but through encouragement and even coaching. These two areas are vital in developing great leadership qualities.
“I’m getting used to it,” Washington said of her progress as a leader. “I’m comfortable with it.”
With Washington’s eventual return as an impact player for Del Valle comes the hope of a playoff run. Without her they are in a race for playoff seeding and hope that she is back in the groove for their district playoffs. As for the future, she completes a fantastic trio headed to Baylor for the 2009 class.
Shanay Washington grabs a rebound.
Baylor has now secured three verbal commitments from the class and all three are ranked in the HoopGurlz.com Super Sixty. These commitments should catapult them near the top of the class rankings next year.
Brittney Griner was the first to commit to Baylor and also the highest ranked player in the class to date at No. 2. Griner is a game changing player who, at 6-foot-7, also has incredible mobility and athleticism that allows her to impact the game in many ways on top of her notoriety as a dunker. Jordan Madden, a 6-foot wing committed to Baylor a week ago. Madden is ranked No. 30 in the Super Sixty and along with Washington, a 6-1 combo guard who is ranked No. 57, will comprise a dynamic backcourt tandem for the future.
Both Madden and Washington are elated to play with a post player as talented as Griner. Madden in fact will play with Griner this summer with DFW Elite, a club team based out of the Dallas-Fort Worth area. All three 2009 recruits have competed against each other and with each other when they attended the Baylor elite camp last year. The class so far should have the Bears’ fan base electrified with hopes of another run like 2005 when Baylor won the national championship.
Baylor has five players averaging in double figures this season and four of them will have graduated by the time this class arrives. This really characterizes this dynamic class as reloading for the Bears. With Griner in the paint and talented young wings the Bears have also nabbed their point guard of the future with the verbal commitment of 2010 point guard Odessey Sims. Sims will also play with Griner and Madden on DFW Elite this club season.
