Christianna Crooks, now a law student and a university basketball player in Europe, reminisces about her humble beginnings at Centennial College. She entered the Centennial College gym on crutches, but by the time she graduated, she soared with wings unfurled.

During her last year of high school, Crooks tore her ACL and worried no college women's basketball program would take an injured rookie. Luckily for both her and Centennial, the Colts took a chance on her. 

"Centennial was the one team that when I was being recruited very much believed in me because I did just tear my ACL and that was before I even was on the team," she said."At the time, they still had so much faith in who I was and my ability to play." Crooks started her time at Centennial with a business program and spent every extra moment she could in the gym with the team.

Her road to recovery felt like a long one, but the coaches and players kept believing in her. "When I was first there, and little rookie me was on crutches, they were helping me every step of the way and helping build up that strength for me to get back." Right before the season started, the athletic therapy team cleared her for an exhibition game against Dawson College in Montreal. It wasn't a great game, and they lost, but Crooks wasn't worried; she was just happy to be back in a jersey again. Just as they had been during recruitment, the coaching staff was fully invested and pushed her to be better each day.

 "All the staff did what they had to do to [ensure] I was okay. I've never really had a coach I could trust until post-secondary," Crooks details. By Crooks' account, her Basketball education never fully materialized until she started working with new Head Coach Naomi Mullings and Lead Assistant Coach Jamie Hutcheson after the pair took over the program from Justin Bobb in 2020. "That first season that I had with Naomi as the coach was eye-opening, but not in a bad way," Crooks said. With Mullings and Hutcheson in place, comfort took a backseat, and Crooks saw a dramatic improvement in her performance. 

"I think that when you have a good coach that sees your potential but also can give you criticism […] it's a very beautiful thing," Crooks explains. Before post-secondary, I didn't feel like I ever had a coach who genuinely cared about me. And then in post-secondary, it was like okay, now the coaches are caring. Someone sees my potential, so let me repay it and give you my everything so you will see that I'm thankful."
 
In her five years at Centennial, Crooks led the team in energy and on-court performance. She started in all but one of the games she played and averaged 16.1 points and 5.9 rebounds in her final year. She would finish her final year 6th in scoring in the OCAA and be selected to the East Division 2nd Team All-Stars, the first all-star selection of her career.  During sprints at practice, Crooks never let another player beat her. She gave every drill her best and kept fighting to get better. 

"Crooks was the first person to buy in...", Mullings said of Christianna's attitude towards improving. "I think it was being able to challenge her incrementally —and it was very small every day of me saying you are going to do a little bit more and then a little bit more—and with her buying into taking on those challenges and being okay being uncomfortable."

 Having never had a coach seriously push her to be great, Crooks initially found Coach Mulling's assertive coach style challenging. She recalled some tears and hard days in the early goings, but what stands out in her memory is that she never gave up.  "Eventually, she understood it wasn't that we were purposefully being hard on her, and it was actually us saying, you can do more. You can do more because you are of that ilk," Mullings recounts.

"We challenged her every day, and for the two years we coached her, she took that challenge and ran with it. Crooks is definitely the person who has taught the team right now the most." Mullings continues.

 Mullings expected more from Crooks than anyone else on the team, but as they say, pressure makes diamonds, and Crooks used that pressure to fuel her to become a better player and leader on the court. Soon, her drive and dedication to success dictated the team's energy and desire to win. 

Mullings conveyed that when the team saw Crooks, they understood it as "That's what it means to be in the gym every day; that's what it means to take on the challenge; that's what it means to run full speed." "If Crooks doesn't buy in, then we look very different this year."

 Mullings didn't stop at the court. She pushed Crooks to succeed in every facet of her student life. When Crooks switched programs to paralegal studies, and she needed an internship, Mullings was there to help. She used her connections to set up a co-op that would inspire Crooks to move to the UK after graduation to study law full-time. 

In Crooks' final year at Centennial, Mullings received an email from Europe's preeminent women's basketball competition EuroBasket. They were looking for the top scorers at Canadian and American colleges to come down for a scouting combine in Dallas so they could recruit players to play professionally in Europe. Crooks again rose to this challenge and booked a ticket to Texas.

She was one of five Canadians who attended the camp, and when the combine ended she made plans to try out in Europe for a pro team as she was going to start studying there in the fall of 2023. 

A car accident, occurring just a few weeks before her departure for England, derailed her plans as it left her injured and incapable of trying out for a professional team. Crooks remained determined; she immediately started to look for other places to play for when she would be healthy again. "I was raised in that sense to not give up. That was embedded in me when I did training and when I first started playing," she explains. 

 She now plays for the University of Leicester Women's basketball team and relishes every moment of being back on the court. Crooks has hopes to try out for a pro team next year, but in the meantime, she is extremely grateful for all the coaching and guidance she received while at Centennial. 

"I miss Centennial a lot. I miss being pushed to that limit, and I miss that energy. I also look back at my game tapes every now and then because I just miss it … well you don't miss the running and the sweating, but you miss everything else," she said. "I definitely felt safe in that Centennial environment. There was always someone looking out for me, even if I didn't realize it out front."

By Sarah Maat
Sarah Maat is a feature writer for Colts Athletics currently studying sports journalism at Centennial College.