By Rob Schellenberg

I

f you talk to Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference basketball coaches, they will tell you that the Briercrest College and Seminary post uses her size, strength, and strong work ethic to change the momentum of a game. She’s a physical player who loves to rebound and play strong defense.

If you talk to people in Haiti, they will tell you that Frost made a difference in their lives by joining the relief effort following the massive earthquake in January.

Frost made a difference in their lives, but admits it was the Haitian people who had the greater impact.

For one month this spring, Frost worked with God’s Littlest Angels, an orphanage located in the mountains above Petion-Ville, an hour from Port-Au-Prince. The region had just been rocked with a massive 7.0 earthquake. Frost stepped off the plane and was surrounded by chaos. She was amazed at the joy, hope and resiliency of the people she had gone to help.

“Seeing the Haitian people, even though they were struck by this huge disaster, (they) had so much hope and were just full of life and spirit and were just such amazing people,” she said. “That was a real encouragement to see that they could go through such a disaster.”

The kitchen staff at the house she was staying at had lost family members and their homes were completely destroyed. Frost found it remarkable that they continued to work and praise God in spite of their circumstances.

“To see that they were so happy and just willing to serve was just amazing.” To remain thankful in every circumstance is a lesson Frost is trying hard to remember.

“Our culture is so focused on consuming and focused on number one,” she said. “What I really struggled with coming home was trying to not forget what I learned in Haiti and trying to fit it into our culture because the two cultures are very different.”

It is a balance that she hopes will assist in mentoring the young Clippers basketball team.

“I think it matured me as a person, which is going to impact how I can be a leader on the team,” she said.

That experience, along with the maturity the fifth year player brings to the team, is evident in the way she interacts with the team.

“I’m definitely one of the older girls on the team and at a different stage of life than a lot of them because I’m working, going to school, playing ball and I’ve just gone through a lot and so all of those experiences I can bring to the team.” Clippers basketball coach Shane Sowden is thankful to have Frost suiting up for the team because of her maturity, but also because of her skills.

“She brings us another dimension on the floor,” he said. “She is very physical, she is a lot of fun to have around, she can score, she can rebound… we’re a better team with her on the court in all aspects.”

This weekend Frost scored 13 points, grabbed eight rebounds and blocked two shots against the Red Deer College Queens. She forced the play several times with aggressive moves under both baskets.

While the Clippers lost two five-point contests, Frost showed leadership in never quitting until the final buzzer and that is exactly what Sowden is expecting from her.

“Just to be herself – she’s not a savior, she’s not a super hero,” he said. “She is a 24- year-old woman who has a little more life experience than the rest of the girls. Who has played at a higher level (and) who has experienced success.”

More success shouldn’t be far away for Frost, as Sowden expects the team to grab more wins this year and then even more wins when Frost becomes his assistant coach.

“We hope that she’ll play with us this year and coach with us afterward and so this is kind of setting the tone for when she comes back.”

Sowden would also like to see Frost lead the team in a summer missions trip to Haiti.

“Going down to Haiti was a life-changing experience for her and so bringing that dynamic and sharing it with the girls on what it means to serve is really exciting and it opened a few doors for us. We’re hoping as a program that it might be an option for our girls to go down every year as a missions trip.” “To see the change in Dani, even from this summer to when she came back, God did a pretty powerful work in her heart and it would be really cool to see if we get a handful of girls going down every summer and see what He does, not only on our team, but in their lives.”