“A lot of times I would walk into a space and I would think am I meant to be here, am I good enough to be here… are they gonna listen and actually hear what I have to say? But the trick to that and what I’ve learned from the women that I have worked with is that you have to walk in with confidence.” - Aphia Ward

Aphia Ward played basketball and completed her sports business degree at the University of  Waterloo. For her 5th and final year, Aphia returned to Edmonton to play at the CCAA level to play for the NAIT Ooks and went on to win a CCAA National Championship after entering the tournament as a wildcard. Aphia was named to the ACAC Second-Team All-Star, and CCAA First-Team All-Star, and was the player of the game at the National Championship Game. Aphia went on to become an assistant coach for the NAIT Ooks Basketball Team and has recently been named the lead assistant coach for the Ambrose University Women’s Basketball Team. In this episode TURN Sports host Navin Ramharak had the opportunity to sit down with Aphia to chat about her career as a basketball player, what it was like winning a championship with NAIT, the WNBA, women in sports and much more in this episode. 

At the beginning of their discussion, Nav and Aphia talk about her career as a basketball player and the championship run with NAIT (3:00), which WNBA player and/or team she looks up to (9:52), her thoughts on Caitlyn Clark and her impact on the game of basketball (11:14), what player other than Caitlyn Clark did Aphia enjoy watching during the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament (15:20), the story behind NAIT stealing Lakeland’s videographer (17:34), and Aphia’s experience being a female working in the Sports Industry (18:51). Next Nav and Aphia discuss what she thinks can change for the WNBA and it’s players for the league to better provide as a whole (21:30), what she envisions for the future of women’s basketball (24:55), and finally what advice Aphia has for the next generation of athletes (27:46).

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