Photo courtesy John Laing Courtney Rissling plays in a game for the Monsignor McCoy Colts earlier this season.
srooney@medicinehatnews.com@MHNRooney
Ever since she got to Monsignor McCoy High School, Courtney Rissling has had a goal in mind.
While a few I’s still need to be dotted and T’s are yet to be crossed, it looks as though she’s achieved it.
As the Grade 12 basketball player gets set for today’s zone semifinal game in Barnwell against rival Crescent Heights, Rissling has committed to playing this fall in Halifax, N.S. with the University of King’s College Eagles.
“I committed, we’re just waiting on my transcript marks,” said Rissling. “But as it sits, yes, I’m committing.”
The senior guard has had a long road, battling injuries, dealing with deaths in her family and all the while working hard on her game both on and off the court.
“Basketball for me is a full-time job,” she said. “It’s every day, more than once a day being at the gym putting in time.
“When it comes down to the hardships I have gone through, just knowing that OK, a couple years and I’ll reach my goal of going to play post-secondary. This is where I have to be so I have to be working hard every day, have that mindset.”
Her team has certainly made it easy to attract attention from prospective post-secondary teams. An unbeaten league season helped catapult the Colts to a No. 4 provincial ranking, which would only be any good if they can beat Crescent Heights in the South Zone’s 3A semifinal. Both finalists from the weekend advance to the Alberta finals in Athabasca.
She was in contact with coaches across the country but felt the Halifax school – which plays in the same national association as Medicine Hat College – was the best fit.
As for how Rissling feels about ending her high school career, it’s mostly positive.
“I haven’t thought too much about it being the end, more of I have to play every game, go to every practice like it’s my last,” she said. “This will be my last chance at zones with McCoy, in high school, with these girls I’ve been with for so long.
“I’m not necessarily super sad, but happy. It’s not only an end, but it’s a new beginning and these people pushed me to where I will be going.”
From her time with the Colts program to camps and the local Rangers Basketball Club, Rissling hasn’t wasted many opportunities to get better.
The weekend’s potential final would be an important test, as provincial No. 1 seed WR Myers of Taber is in the other Friday semifinal. The Rebels beat the Colts at a tournament in Wetaskiwin recently.
