Welcome to the website of KW Lightning Girls Basketball Association.  Enjoy your visit!

"Thunder is good, thunder is impressive; but it is lightning that does all the work"

Mark Twain

JUVENILE (Bush/Dietrich) WIN GOLD at PROVINCIAL CHAMPIONSHIPS IN WATERLOO! KW Lightning Juvenile (Bush/Dietrich) struck GOLD defeating Kingston Impact 63-49 in the Division 1 U17 OBA Provincial Championship Game!!!! The team went 6-0 on the way to gold while averaging 60pts a game. They defeated Orillia, Oakville, Toronto, Scarbourgh and the  Sault Saint Marie along the way. The team played hard all weekend and played like a true team. Thanks to all the parents and all the Lightning fans for your support.  This is the very 1st KW Lightning Juvenile U17  Division 1 Gold medal. Back Row: Coach Lee Dietrich, Alana Schott, Skye Johns, Erin Robbins, Alyssa Shortt, Emily Voisin, Olivia McAllistair, Michelle Dietrich, Coach Allan Bush Middle Row: Coach Gillian Maxwell, Janine DeLeon, Bria Dietrich, Melina Panara, Coach Kim Kassik Front Row: Megan Robinson, Carly Tithecott

15th YEAR OF KW LIGHTNING IS A GOOD ONE! This was the best year for KW Lightning. Why? This was our highest medal count ever at OBA Provincial Championships. We are very proud of our players and coaches.

BANQUET HIGHLIGHTS   At the Lightning banquet on May 4, 2009, KW Lighting cofounder Roy Dahl wins Skip Johns award.  For more details, please see the Founders page.     The keynote speaker for this year’s banquet was Lightning grad Kate McCrae.  Kate was part of the first-ever KW Lightning team, and after a distinguished career at Waterloo Collegiate, went on to play at University of Waterloo for 5 years where she served as captain of the team for 3 of those years and also received numerous awards for her contributions on and off the court.  After a service experience with “Playing for Peace” in Northern Ireland, Kate has served as Assistant Women’s Basketball Coach with Yale University and most recently with University of Waterloo.   Another highlight of the banquet was the America East Conference video about Lightning graduate May Kotsopoulos - if you’d like to see it again, check out the Grad web page!    The winner of the 2008-2009 KW Lightning scholarship was Brittany Van Dyken.  Congrats Brittany!  We wish you all the best at Brock next year!  Don’t forget to come out and see Brittany and both our Junior teams and our #1-ranked Juvenile team play this weekend at the OBAs!   Thanks to all the teams for donating prizes.  Lightning raised over $400 on the prizes and draws at the banquet!

CONGRATULATIONS! Major Midget (Garbutt) on bringing home Division 4 Bronze from the OBA Provincial Championships!

CONGRATULATIONS! Congratulations to Junior (Urosevic) and Junior (Nelson) on being ranked #7 and #13 (respectively) in the province!

CONGRATULATIONS! Congratulations to Juvenile (Bush) on being ranked #1 in the province!

CONGRATULATIONS! Midget (Nickel) on bringing home Division 1 Bronze from the OBA Provincial Championships! (see team page for details and photos)

CONGRATULATIONS! Midget (Nickel) win the silver medal at the Blessed Sacrament tournament – April 17, 18 and 19th!

CONGRATULATIONS! Congratulations to Lindsay Lessard from the KW Lightning Midget girls team for making the provincial U15 team!

CONGRATULATIONS! Major Bantam (Haehn) on bringing home Bronze from the OBA Provincial Championships!

CONGRATULATIONS! Major Atom (Trush) on bringing home a Bronze from the OBA Provincial Championships!

CONGRATULATIONS! Junior Lightning (Nelson) won gold in the Guelph CYO Tournament.

CONGRATULATIONS! Bantam Lightning (Grant) won gold in the KW Lightning Tournament.

CONGRATULATIONS! Major Bantam Lightning (Haehn) won gold in Blessed Sacrament Tournament.

CONGRATULATIONS! KW Lightning wishes Lightning grad May Kotsopoulos and the Vermont Catamounts all the best in the women’s NCAA tournament. For more details please read The Record article from Monday, March 23, 2009.

CONGRATULATIONS! Juvenile (Bush) bring home the Gold medal from the London Ramblers Tournament.

CONGRATULATIONS! Midget (Nickel) win the Bronze medal at the London Ramblers Tournament.

CONGRATULATIONS! Midget (Nickel) win the Gold medal at the Brantford Briars Tournament.

CONGRATULATIONS! Atom (Hamm) win the Gold medal at the KW Lightning Tournament.

CONGRATULATIONS! Lightning Grad May Kotsopoulos is the second Vermont Catamount player to reach 1,000 career points this year!

CONGRATULATIONS! Midget (Nickel) win the Silver medal at the London CYO Tournament.

CONGRATULATIONS! Juvenile (Bush) bring home a Platinum Division Gold from the Scarborough Basketball Association Tournament.

CONGRATULATIONS! Juvenile (Bush) bring home Gold from the St. Catherines CYO Tournament.

CONGRATULATIONS! Major Atom (Trush) bring home Gold from the IEM Tournament.

CONGRATULATIONS TO LIGHTNING PLAYERS NAMED WCSSAA ALL STARS! First team all stars (pictured above, L to R): Shelby Kurt, WCI/Junior (Nelson); Rebecca Dietrich, WCI/Junior (Nelson); Nicole Roeder, WCI/Junior (Nelson); Rachel Urosevic, KCI/Junior (Urosevic); Jordan Tomas, SJAM/Junior (Urosevic) Second team: Nadia Qahwash, GRCI/Junior (Urosevic); Krista Van Slingerland, SJAM/Junior (Urosevic); Sasha Warmington, KCI/Junior (Urosevic); Maddie Broderick, GRCI/Junior (Urosevic); Megan Fowler WCI/Junior (Nelson) Honourable mention: Brittany Vandyken, JHSS/Junior (Nelson); Sam McIntyre, BCI/Junior (Nelson); Emily Voisin, FHCI/Juvenile (Bush); Erin Robbins, CHCI/Juvenile (Bush)

CONGRATULATIONS LIGHTNING PLAYERS ON YOUR OFSAA 'AAAA' BRONZE MEDAL! Congratulations to the WCI Vikings Senior Girls basketball team who brought home a bronze medal from the 'AAAA' OFSAA tournament in Sarnia. The WCI Vikings team has 7 Lightning players who all contributed in the OFSAA tournament; Shelby Kurt (#15), Rebecca Dietrich (#40), Nicole Roeder (#22), Alyssa Shortt (#24), Bria Dietrich (#34), Megan Fowler (#13) and Carly Tithecott (#45). The team won games against Aurora High School (53-40), Pope John Paul II (59-42), Ursaline College (60-45) to get to the semi-finlals but lost a heart breaking game to St. Thomas More (56-51) which sent them to the bronze medal game where they played an outstanding game against Westdale which they won (52-39).

CONGRATULATIONS TO LARRY HOOPER WHO WILL BE HONOURED FOR HIS OUTSTANDING VOLUNTEER WORK WITH KW LIGHTNING AND BASKETBALL ONTARIO DURING THE COACHES SUPER WEEKEND ON SEPTEMBER 13-14!

CONGRATULATIONS TO KW LIGHTNING'S JENNIFER LENNOX FOR BEING SELECTED TO CANADA BASKETBALL'S NATIONAL ELITE DEVELOPMENT ACADEMY (NEDA)!   Jen has been a member of the KW Lightning organization for the past 6 seasons and was instrumental contributor on KW Lightning teams that won the Provincial Midget Girls Division 1 gold in 2006, Division 1 silver medals in 2004, 2005 and 2007 and a National Club silver medal in 2006. Jen's physical presence (6'2") and rapidly developing skills make her a consistent stat filler and game changer.   Jen was a member of the 2007 Ontario U15 Women's team that won Gold in BC. She was named tournament MVP and hit the game winning shot with 1 second to go to beat Team Alberta 62-61, Jen is currently a member of Ontario's U17 Women's team that is preparing for the Nationals in PEI on August 19-23, 2008. She has also been a 3 year participant in the Centre of Performance (CP) program.   NEDA is a national training centre program that brings together the top 12 male and female (aged 15-18) development athletes from across Canada. The city of Hamilton and McMaster University plays host to the NEDA. Invitations to NEDA are awarded to outstanding players with the potential to represent Canada at future international competitions. Jen will move to Hamilton and live with a billet family while attending St. Mary's High School as a grade 11 student for the 2008-2009 season, She will be in the pool of players being considered to represent Canada at the 2009 FIBA U19 World Championships for Women scheduled to take place July 23–August 2 in Thailand.   The KW Lightning wishes Jen the best of luck and we look forward to seeing you wear the Red and White of Canada in the near future. We will miss you!

THANK YOU TO THE TRILLIUM FOUNDATION FOR THEIR GENEROUS GRANT WHICH ALLOWED KW LIGHTNING TO PURCHASE SHOT CLOCKS FOR OUR ORGANIZATION!

'VIKES REUNITE IN THE FIGHT' UPDATE! Thanks Lightning players and fans for your support. 500+ people were able to come out on Family Day to watch the WCI Sr. Girls play the WCI Alumni. $15,000+ was raised for the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation. Current Lightning coaches Laura Strauss, Lindsay Kurt, Dan Nelson and Craig Nickel as well as former Lightning players/coaches Gillian Herman, Doug Ranton and Julie Devenny were the key organizers behind this charity event! Way to go!

CONGRATULATIONS! Congrats to Kaila Montgomery who recently signed a National Letter of Intent for a full Division 1 athletic Scholarship with Cleveland State University in Cleveland, Ohio.  Kaila just finished leading her Waterloo Collegiate Vikings to a fourth place finish at the AAAA OFSAA Championships held in Windsor and will remain as Viking as she suits up for the CSU Vikings, who play in the Horizon League.  Kaila is a proud member of the KW Lightning organization and plays on Bob Urosevic’s Junior team.  Way to go, Kaila!

KW LIGHTNING MERCHANDISE Check out the Lightning Merchandise page to see our line up of crested apparel and merchandise.  All items can be ordered by using the downloadable order forms at the bottom of the page.

Don't forget to check out the "What's Happening" page for announcements and coming events.

Do you have comments or suggestions about this website?  Contact webmaster@kwlightning.com.