Naama Shafir

Classroom

Shafir maintains a 3.45 GPA in Business and is on pace to graduate in May 2012. She’s a two-time academic All-MAC honoree and a three-time member of the Dean’s List. After graduation she plans on returning to Hoshaya, Israel, to play professional basketball for the Israeli National Team.

Character

Shafir enters her senior season as a co-captain. What speaks most about her character is what she battles everyday when merging her religious beliefs with being a Division I student-athlete. She is an Orthodox Jew and can only eat kosher foods, must wear a T-shirt under her jersey, can’t practice from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday and can’t ride in a motorized vehicle during that time frame.

Community

Shafir has been involved in numerous community-service projects, including the Susan G. Komen “Race for the Cure,” Ovarian Cancer Walk, Habitat for Humanity, Cullop’s Kids Camp and various youth clinics and camps. She has also helped with Girl Scouts Day, Family Day, Wendy’s Little Dribblers, Rocketpalooza, Dental Center Give a Kid a Smile and she’s helped sponsor a family during the Christmas holiday.

Competition

As a junior, Shafir earned first-team All-MAC honors. She’s believed to be the first female Orthodox Jew to earn NCAA I scholarship and has received national media exposure from numerous major-market outlets, including Sports Illustrated, USA Today, New York Times, ESPN.com, CNN, Associated Press, The Canadian Press, The Jewish Week, The Jerusalem Post and US Presswire. She’s a three-time first-team All-America by Jewish Sports Review, combining all NCAA Division I, II and III schools. Shafir sits fourth in Toledo’s record books in career assists (555), fifth in free-throws made (424) and free-throws attempted (554), eighth in scoring average (13.9 ppg), 10th in steals (159) and 11th in points (1,415). She has started all 102 games in her career.