Janiva Willis is the pride of Irishtown. The ball field where she honed her softball skills now bears her name. Janiva was a member of the Canadian National fastpitch Softball team, an Olympian. She was a member of the Nat'l team from 2004 to 2007. Willis was an NCAA four-time All-Big South Conference selection in 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005. But not only was she an awesome softball player, but also a very bright student, a Scholar Athlete of the Year. Janiva Willis was, in 2005, among the 10 finalists for the 2005 NCAA Woman of the Year award, one of the most prestigious honors the NCAA bestows. This cache is just beyond the outfield fence. Look around, you may find one of her home run balls.
Janiva Willis has sadly passed following a car accident on April 12th 2016. Here is an article posted from CBC and Yahoo.... "We are stunned by this tragic news." That statement by Winthrop University's athletic director, Tom Hickman, sums up how everyone who knew Janiva Willis is feeling, after news the celebrated athlete and mentor from the Moncton area was killed in a car accident on Tuesday night in Texas. Willis, 33, was mid-way through a bicycle odyssey in the United States, raising money for her non-profit youth mentoring foundation — I Dream in Colors — according to information on the university's website. Although she grew up in Irishtown and graduated from Harrison Trimble High School, Willis attended university in South Carolina on a softball scholarship, and was inducted into the Winthrop University Hall of Fame. She played for the women's Canadian national softball team and won a silver medal at the 2007 Pan American Games and later that summer won a gold as a member of Team Canada at the Universiade in Bangkok. Softball Canada has posted a tribute to Willis on its site. Kathy Silvea, Janiva's mother, is still absorbing the shock of losing her only daughter. "She always put 150 per cent into everything she did. She was inspiring to us as parents. She went to Winthrop University and made a name for herself down there." Silvea said even as a child, her daughter excelled at most sports and was always a stellar student. "She always exceeded anything she set out to do," she said. Willis touched many lives throughout her career as an athlete and later through her work with young people. Those who came into her orbit never forgot her, including her former high school soccer coach, Judy Vautour. "She not only was an amazing athlete, she was an amazing student, but I think her biggest attribute would be her humanitarianism. She always had a goal of helping others'," said Vautour. According to Silvea, her daughter was killed when the car in which she was riding was hit by a transport truck. The driver of the car was also killed. Silvea suspects her daughter was on her way home to where she was being billeted for the night. Willis was about halfway through her 78-day cycling tour, with a goal of raising $1 million for her foundation. The tour was supposed to finish at her alma mater in South Carolina. In Moncton on Thursday, Willis's brother, Allan Silvea, said the family has been inundated with messages of love and support from people who knew Janiva Willis.
Enter the trail behind the scoring shack.
>
