Jenni ‘imports’ skills

By Stuart Teather
FROM the outside, sacrificing the golden beaches of the Spanish Mediterranean for the suburban sprawl of Dandenong might seem a strange decision, but for Dandenong Ranger Jenni Benningfield it was a simple choice.
Originally from Louisville, America, Benningfield forged a basketball career in the Women’s National Basketball Association where she played a season with Indiana, before heading abroad to the Spanish professional league Liga Femenina, where she played at four clubs in four years.
She arrived in Spain as a raw 23-year-old, just one season out of college and found adjusting to life in another country difficult.
“The first year overseas for everyone is a make or break year,” she said.
“You’re away from your family, everything you know and with the language barrier on top of it, it’s really hard to be out of your comfort zone for the entire eight months you’re there.”
But she persevered and as her grasp of Spanish increased, so did her role in the side, to the point where she was helping the new recruits adjust in her final seasons there.
By the end of her fourth season, Benningfield decided her time in Europe was up and she packed her bags to leave.
Her timing was impeccable, with the Rangers losing four of their most seasoned players from 2007/08, so the club was on the lookout for someone with experience.
It ended up an easy decision for the now 27-year-old Benningfield, as visiting Australia had always been on her ‘to-do’ list.
“It’s coming towards the end of my career and I wanted to try something different,” she said.
Australia is somewhere I wanted to go anyway, I’ve had a couple of friends play in the Australian league and they said how good it was and also not having a language barrier was a bonus.”
Benningfield slotted into the Rangers’ line-up as a forward and made an impact from her opening game.
Despite the Rangers winning just five games from their first 13, Benningfield has shone averaging 16 points per game and 7.7 rebounds.
But her biggest contribution to the team has been her wealth of experience, which coach Dale Waters said had benefited the younger players.
“The professionalism that she brings to our group is just outstanding, the energy and enthusiasm that she brings to the group and the way she embraces the younger players has been an absolute credit to her,” he said.
“She’s just been a tremendous pick-up for us and she continues to perform week in week out.”
Despite her experience, Benningfield was reluctant to consider herself a leader at the club.
“There’s two great leaders here already in ‘Macca’ (Emily McInerny) and Caitlin Ryan and those two are the veterans and they lead this team – for me it’s a matter of coming in and supporting them,” she said.
Benningfield said the best thing she could do was to enjoy her basketball, which she said was easy to do at Dandenong.
“I think people have realised how much fight we have in our team and how hard our team works and how, as a collective unit, we get along really well off and on the court,” she said.
“We’re having so much fun and enjoying each other, enjoying being at work and that says a lot about not only the players, but the coaches and everyone at the club.”