Published March 20, 2014 14:01
Source http://www.winnipegsun.com/2014/03/20/rising-star-giles-first-grade-10-player-to-earn-top-ranking
In what is believed to be a first in the history of the Sun's annual top 10 lists, a Grade 10 player has been named the top player in the province.
Kyanna Giles, a talented guard for the top-ranked and undefeated Sisler Spartans, has been named Manitoba's top high school girls' basketball player in the Sun's annual coaches poll. She is only 15 years old and still has two years of high school remaining. Despite her young age, Giles is already a force on the hard court.
"Fundamentally, her defence is very technically sound," Spartans head coach Michael Tan said. "She anticipates the ball well, she's able to read plays well, and she's usually a step ahead a lot of the time with a lot of the opponents that we're playing."
That's what happens when you start playing hoops at such a young age. Giles and her twin sister Kyia watched their older sister, Kenesha, who now plays at Toronto's Ryerson University, so they decided they should try it, too. The twins started out playing at the Boys and Girls Club of Winnipeg in Grade 4, and that eventually led to club ball and provincial team berths.
Now Giles is one of 28 players who have been invited to Basketball Canada's assessment camp for its under-17 and under-18 national girls' teams. Giles will be one of the youngest players at the camp, which will be held next week in Edmonton.
"For her to be 15 and trying out for a U-17 team on an international stage is a pretty good experience," Tan said.
Giles, who grew up in downtown Winnipeg near Portage Place, believes she is a product of tough love. Her club coach at an early age, Neil Blanca, didn't let her get away with anything. She noted her family has always been "strong and physical," which is another reason why she plays with an edge.
"I'm a physical player, always taking it hard to the rim, never backing down, grabbing those boards," Giles said.
That physicality, according to her coach, is one of the reasons why she is the cream of the high school hoops crop in Manitoba.
"She uses her body well," Tan said. "She knows how to draw contact and she knows how to finish with contact as well."
Giles doesn't always have to be crashing and banging to be a dangerous weapon on the court. She uses the muscle between her ears to great effect, too.
"Offensively she's able to read the floor so well, so she's really great in transition, just being able to finish early so there are no defenders coming towards her," Tan said.
When you get right down it, though, it's a relentless work ethic that has Giles at the top of her game at such a young age.
"She reminds me a little bit of Debbie Yeboah (the province's top player out of Sisler in 2008)," Tan said. "Where Debbie was constantly in the gym, Kyanna is constantly in the gym."
Tan usually has his charges on the court for two hours a day, six days a week during the season. "Then I hear on Sunday, when they have a day off, they're usually at the downtown Y either shooting around or they're working out," Tan said of the twins. "She and her sister are both gym rats. They're always trying to find people who are willing to challenge them and make them better."
It'll be interesting to see if Giles can maintain her No. 1 ranking for the next two years, because her biggest competition could very well come from her own family. Kyia is just coming off a torn ACL that kept her off the court for most of 2013 but has many of her sister's same skills and traits.
"Her twin sister's going to have something to say about that," Tan said.
The good news for Tan is both of them play for the Spartans, who will take on the Linden Christian Wings on Thursday night at 6 o'clock in provincial 4A championship semifinal action at Investors Group Athletic Centre.