Dana Cranston

Biography

Dana Cranston attended North Peace Secondary School, which had a row of banners featuring students who had competed for Canada. It was her desire to have her own name and number on a banner that motivated her in practice. In October 2014, she was given the honour of having her banner added to the row. Cranston joined the senior national team in 2013 after having been on the national B team in 2010 and 2011. She played collegiately at Colorado State University where she led the Rams to four straight Mountain West Conference titles. In 2012 she was named team MVP and Mountain West Player of the Year. Cranston played her first professional season in France in 2013-14 before joining VT Aurubis Hamburg in Germany.

PERSONAL

Family: Parents Arley and Karen Cranston… Younger sister Barb plays volleyball for McEwan University… Younger brother Blain plays volleyball for Grande Prairie Regional College… Cousin Geoff Hammond won a silver medal in standing volleyball at the Sydney 2000 Paralympic Games… Getting into the Sport: Started playing volleyball competitively at age 8… Grew up in the corner of the gym playing with her siblings while watching their parents play… Outside Interests: Enjoys knitting, reading… Earned her Bachelor in Business Administration in 2013… Odds and Ends: Nicknames: Dan, Cranny, Danada… Inspired by Karch Kiraly because of his knowledge of the sport and commitment to perfecting the little skills… Always puts her left shoe on first and writes a Bible verse or focus word on her left wrist… Collects magnets from her travels… Favourite quote: “Around her, however, we don’t look backwards for very long. We keep moving forward, opening up new doors and doing new things because we’re curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.” – Walt Disney…

NOTABLE INTERNATIONAL RESULTS

FIVB WCh; 2014 – 17^th

FISU: 2013 – 6^th