by By Dan Ninham (Oneida)
“My name is Shante Nizhoni Slender, I am 5’3 and I play the point guard position at Eastern Nazarene College in Quincy, Massachusetts. I am in my junior year of college.”
The Eastern Nazarene College Lions have a 14-1 record including a 13 winning game streak.
“I am enrolled in the Navajo Nation tribe, Dine people,” said Shante. “I am from Kayenta, Arizona. My mom Mina Gamble, my step-dad James Cly and my father are Navajo. I currently live in Boston, Massachusetts.”
“I come from the Navajo Nation and my mother continuously teaches and reminds me to always have three things: harmony, balance, and self-discipline,” said Shante. “These three core values have taught me more about life than any textbook will ever. To live with harmony is accepting and making peace with the fact that there will be many things in life we won’t have control over. Which is completely okay, but dealing with it in a healthy positive responsive way. When life does get chaotic it is important to have balance. Balancing ourselves physically, mentally, spiritually, and socially to create a better outcome for ourselves. Lastly self-discipline is crucial especially majoring in electrical engineering, knowing what your goals are and staying true to them. Not being tempted by outside factors that might defer me from my goals.”
“I have come across many people who have influenced me,” said Shante. “Friends, family, coaches, and even strangers have influenced me. However, I have had four people who have influenced me the most. Coach Casey and Coach Ron have both coached me through my high school years and continue to coach me even throughout college. My club Coach E, Ephraim Sloan also influences me.”
“My mother is my backbone. These four have completely shaped into the person I am today, on and off the court. They have continued to stick by my side and support me; even when I made decisions that didn’t speak my character and made me less deserving of the support they gave. All four proved to me they were always a phone call away, whether that’d be basketball, school, relationships, a laugh, a phone call to simply say I love you and I am proud of you. These four have continuously to support me at my highs and lows and they have influenced me since day one,” added Shante.
“I asked Shante’s mom Mina if she would like to play for my team after her senior basketball season at Westwood High School in Mesa, Arizona,” said Ephraim **. “She came to one of my open skill workouts and the rest is history. From that moment on, she quickly made an impact in my life as I did in hers. Our relationship grew to be more than just basketball, we became family.”
“Té was my only senior when she played for my varsity girls travel basketball team after the high school hoops season,” said Coach ‘E’. “As the only senior with one junior, three sophomores, four freshmen and an eighth grader on the team, Té without question rose to the occasion of being the leader of my team, the RUN ‘n GUN. There are countless fine qualities about Té that I love, not only pertaining to basketball but life as well. What I always admired about Té was her heart. She always put her heart into whatever she did and to this day, she stills does. That’s what makes her such an incredible leader.”
Coach ‘E’ continued to address his former player’s leadership: “We’ve often talked about player mentalities, being mentally strong to handle the ups and downs of being a leader, discussing often to lead by example and not so much by words. To my surprise, she found a great balance doing both. Not only being the voice to encourage and praise but also holding her sisters accountable and giving instructive criticism, always willing to help her sisters (teammates) learn to become better. Whether she was on the court or on the bench, you heard Té. I’m big on ‘Don’t tell me, show me’. Té has constantly had me in awe, because her actions have definitely been louder than any amount of words she could have said. It’s such a cliche, but she was the first one to practice, she was the last one to leave the gym to get in more reps. Practices ended at 8:30 pm and we leaving the gym at 9:30 pm.”
“That’s another thing that made her such a phenomenal leader, it was her work ethic,” said Coach ‘E’. “Practices weren’t enough for Té, so we started working out at 5 am at the local Mesa YMCA before school. Not too long after, her sisters also decided to start doing 5am workouts before school as well. When Té went on to play for Chandler-Gilbert Community College, we kept the 5 am workouts a routine for the two years she was at CGCC. Working out before her classes, weights and sometimes even her actual college team practices. Té went on to play for Eastern Nazarene College in Quincy, Massachusetts, and she continues to train with me. Using one of the many perks of social media, I would send her snap chat videos of skill workouts to do when she had time in the gym. She would often send videos back of her doing them as well as her teammates that included her sister Seniesha, who was a junior when Té was senior. Every summer, thanksgiving, Christmas and spring break she came home, we were in the gym, working on her game.”
“It’s coming up on the fourth year since Té has played for me, and our relationship is just as strong as when she did play for me,” said Coach ‘E’. “Being that second father to her and me seeing her as another daughter. I am very proud of the strong beautiful young woman Té has become. It’s tough for me to single out a specific time or event she showed leadership, because she’s been doing it for as long as I’ve had the honor of being a part of her life. So looking at the big picture, Té has set the bar for any player that I will ever coach or train for years to come. Great leaders don’t create followers, and they create more leaders. Té has definitely done that,” added Coach ‘E’.
“I first met Shante during her senior year of high school, when I came on board at Westwood High School as the freshman girls’ coach,” said Ron Campton, varsity girls’ head coach at Westwood HS. “Shante was unfortunately forced to do much of the heavy lifting for us during her senior season on both ends of the court. So much of the credit belongs to our current JV coach, Casey Sanderson who had coached her since her 8th grade year and our former varsity coach Glenda Skalitzky, who taught her a ton of things at the varsity level to help her get to where she was as a leader/program foundation builder.”
“My relationship with Shante grew once she graduated at Westwood and moved on to Chandler-Gilbert CC and now to ENC. My talks on positivity and mentality, working through tough situations and pushing through the hard times you’re presented with resonated with her and taken on a mentor/mentee type of relationship,” added Coach Ron.
Coach Ron Campton continued to reflect on his past star player: “Looking back on that last year at Westwood and the subsequent years to follow, Shante’s leadership has always been on display for others to follow. I tell her all the time that she was one of the first girls to lay a foundation brick at Westwood. She was someone who showed future girls how to play the game the right way, how to work hard and how they could follow in her footsteps. Her senior year she took a sophomore under her wing and helped her learn how to lead more vocally. She also worked with her in one-on-one situations for the following two years on weight room and fitness goals, and on court tips and tricks that she picked up in college. That girl would go on to be the unquestioned vocal leader of our program for the next two seasons.”
“Shante coached our incoming players at Carson Middle School for two seasons while she was in college, building relationships and getting players ready for when they step foot on campus at Westwood,” said Coach Ron. “Those girls she worked with most are now part of a currently undefeated freshman squad at Westwood and one current sophomore who’s been a varsity starter since her freshman season and averages close to 10 points a game. Her work with those younger groups helped a lot of those girls, but more importantly it meant something more to them. Seeing a fellow native ballplayer make it to the next level and then want to come back and spend their time helping and coaching them. Those girls all look up to Shante on the court and in their personal lives.”
“Every chance Shante gets when she is home she’s back in the gym at Westwood. School breaks, summer breaks and any chance she had when she wasn’t in class she would be back in the gym. But while she is there, she is constantly working with our younger players. Teaching them little things to do, talking to our groups during open gym about what hard work will be necessary for them to follow in her footsteps,” added Coach Ron.
“Shante is a wonderful young woman, and someone who I have been blessed to coach throughout her long basketball career,” reflected Coach Ron. “She is selfless with her knowledge and unquestioned in her character. She is the best role model we could hold up for our younger athletes to try and imitate and model their games after. She’s a hard worker on the court but a harder worker in the classroom as she chases her career goals as well.”
“Shante is a great teammate, always positive, up lifting, hard working, great listener and fearless,” said Casey Sanderson, JV head basketball coach, Westwood HS, Mesa, AZ. “I’ve enjoyed coaching Shante on my JV squad and while she was on varsity. But one thing that I will always remember is when she wanted to coach with me at Carson Jr. High, she asked me to be the 7th grade coach. I thought this is pretty amazing for this young lady wanting to take on the challenge of coaching especially right out of high school. Spring of 2017 – season starts I’m coaching my 8th graders on the opposite side of the gym and I would look on her side to how things are going. I would see her doing work with the girls, explaining drills, shooting techniques and showing them how to dribble the ball.”
“At that moment I knew she was in the right spot for those girls and girls responded to her with much respect and looked up at her as a role model. Shante was juggling college classes and basketball workouts with her college team at the same time, so Shante really had no time to relax or take it easy. But again I never heard Shante complain about school, her teammates or coming to Carson for practices because she was taking on a lot during this time, but like I said before; she was always positive. The energy from being such a hard worker trickled down into her 7th graders because at the end of the regular season they finished with a 7-1 record going into the playoffs,” added Casey.
“My 8th graders were knocked out in the semifinals and my team decided to go support the 7th graders that made it to championship round,” said Casey. “This would be the first game that I was able to watch Shante coach. Sitting across the bench watching the game go on and watching Shante handle the situations during the game were absolutely positive. However, the very well coached 7th grade team was defeated. She was talking to her team in a huddle while some girls had tears in their eyes, but all attention was on Shante. Parents were taking pictures holding up their phones like reporters over the huddle. Once the talk was over, players one by one started to take pictures with Shante and some parents telling her what a great job she has done this season.”
“While I was standing in the background I started to get teary-eyed because watching her smile and showing that pride as a mentor is what coaching is all about. Shante has gone from a little girl barely learning to dribble the ball, to making captain on JV to maintaining her leadership onto varsity, signing with the Chandler-Gilbert Community College basketball team and finally coaching her first team to a winning record. I always told Shante, ‘It’s not what you do, it’s how you do it.’ And she definitely showed how to be a leader.”
Mina Gamble, mom to Shante shares her daughter’s leadership on and off the court: “Shante Slender has a natural talent to lead. She was captain of her basketball for three years during high school, followed by another three years in college. She plays the position of a point guard but will make sure she understands all the positions for each play. While on the basketball court you can hear her talking, giving her team an idea of what she is seeing. She understands she is an extension of her coach on the court and does her best to keep the team flowing. At times she will seek the role, at other times it falls into her lap. While in high school she was the president of the Native American Club. Organized frybread sales as fundraisers, organized the yearly pow-wow held at the high school each year. Often, I have witnessed her put the best of what she has into events to help her organization. She has served as a Wellness Warrior for UNITY, United National Indian Tribal Youth, and has attended conferences as a youth.”
“As a young adult the organizer asked her to attend so she can help coordinate events. She attended a meeting once before and opened about the effects of suicide. She has lost several friends to suicide, so she made herself available to those that need a hug or even just a ride around town in silence to allow the tears to fall. In high school she was inducted into the Native American National Honor Society. To be eligible you must obtain a 4.0 GPA. In college was inducted in Chi Sigma Alpha, an honor society for student athletes who obtain a 3.4 GPA while playing in a varsity team. She will remind those who look up to her that you are a Student first, then you are an athlete. She has selected a major that not only have limited females but even fewer Native Americans. The class load she has taken on each semester has not been a walk in the park, but she continues to push through while playing basketball. The first glimpse I had at her leadership skill was when she helped organize a program called Little Stars. It was aimed at helping young kids stay active to help combat obesity. Helping them understand they can change their live to be bit healthier,” added mom Mina.
“At the age of two my mother took me and my older sister away from a toxic relationship she had with my father,” said Shante. “My father was an alcoholic who passed away when I was 13. I have only met him once and have had only one conversation with him before he passed away. This subject has always been hard for myself to talk about. But it is something that I am not ashamed of because it taught me many things. To this day, it still hurts to talk about; there is still a sharp pain I feel in my chest that I go about with my day, all the time. I have lost many friends to suicides, to accidents they couldn’t control. I have lost multiple family members to illness. I have had many losses throughout the past six years and they hurt all the same. But, I am not telling this story to receive pity. I am telling this story because there have been many days where I have wanted to give up, where I almost nearly gave up. There were many cases of waking up and already hating the day. I had depression for the longest time.”
“Right now I can say I have come a long way and accept myself saying I did have deep depression and not feeling ashamed after years of dealing it with alone. I sought out help from my schools counselors, I dove more into my tradition teachings and prayed, I talked about it. The whole point of my story is there will be many outside factors that will definitely make you want to quit. But, talking about it is always the first step to help and not being ashamed. I wont lie and say it was easy to just feel okay going through my day because it is not easy. It was terrifying to do, but, I wanted to get better and I took the first step and talked about it,” added Shante.
“I have had many accomplishments within the nearly four years of my college career,” said Shante. “My first two college academic years I was able to attend Chandler-Gilbert Community College on a full-ride scholarship for my academic performance in high school. I was able to receive my Associates Degree in applied science the spring of 2018. I then transferred to Eastern Nazarene College and for my first academic year at ENC I was inducted into Chi Sigma Alpha. This is awarded to student athletes who earned a 3.4 cumulative GPA in the academic school year.”
“Playing collegiate basketball for four years has taught me many things,” said Shante. “One of the most valuable traits that it has taught me was time management. Managing your time in order to be success inside the classroom and outside the classroom. Managing your time also teaches you what your true priorities are. Every Sunday I take an hour out of my day to plan my week. I list all my assignments that are due for the week. I also create my Google calendar and insert when my classes are, practices, games, when I need to study, what time I work, ice baths, extra strength and conditioning. I put everything into my Google calendar to help manage my time.”
Photo Credit: Rob Rossi, ENC Athletics
