By Vita (Redding) Shields, Brown ‘99
IvyLeague.com: Why did you choose to attend an Ivy League institution?
Vita: I chose to attend Brown as a way of demonstrating to my peers, H.S. coaches and school system that it could be done. I attended inner city Cleveland (OH) schools K-12 and it is/was uncommon for our students, post-desegregation and bussing, to have this opportunity. It wasn’t something I felt justified bypassing in favor of what I felt would be a solely athletic experience elsewhere.
IvyLeague.com: What comes to mind when you think about the Ivy League?
Vita: I think of academic excellence and the wonderful friendships that I have been blessed with as a result of attending Brown.
IvyLeague.com: What athletic accomplishment are you the most proud of/has the most significance to you?
Vita: Rehabbing from a major injury was significant for me. I faced injury several times during my college career, but it was never season ending. After I graduated Brown I was preparing physically for professional tryouts and tore my ACL and meniscus and grieved that deeply because I truly loved the game and wasn’t ready for it to be over. Nearly two years later, I had fully rehabbed, toured with Athletes in Action in Spain and did several tours with Ohio Girls Basketball legends team versus top D1 programs in their preseasons. I excelled on the tours. Returning to a caliber of health and competition that I could be happy with actually helped me to walk away from the game. I never made the WNBA obviously, but I had the opportunity to tryout after a major injury and “held my own” and that was all I could ask for.
IvyLeague.com: What off-court accomplishment are you most proud of/has the most significance to you?
Vita: My husband and I had recently had a baby in summer 2018. Hands down, the birth of our daughter, Trinity, has been the most notable, proud, life changing and beautiful experience of my life.
IvyLeague.com: What is your most memorable experience from your time as an Ivy League student-athlete?
Vita: It was the entire 1996-1997 season. I remember having fun with our team, WINNING and laughing so much that entire year. Harvard won the league but I remember us and a couple other teams really vying for that top place in the last couple weeks of the season.
IvyLeague.com: What Ivy League school did you enjoy competing against the most and why?
Vita: Harvard, Penn and Dartmouth. They were the best at the time and I always loved their coaching staffs.
IvyLeague.com: What would you share with a prospect deciding on attending either an Ivy or non-Ivy League school?
Vita: If you cannot afford to walk away with debt of any kind, be confident you can obtain a wonderful education wherever you apply yourself outside of the Ivy League. But if it’s important to you to compete in the NCAA Division I and experience the most brilliant academic life, network and opportunities AFTER college, then the Ivy League is a great choice. Choose what you can’t live without, not just what you can live with.
IvyLeague.com: What does it mean to you to be a Legend of Ivy League Basketball?
Vita: This is very humbling. I remember being prideful and unhappy that I didn’t win the Ivy League Rookie of the Year. I thought I had failed my team, myself and those who were rooting for me back home. This title “Legend” humors me, because I know of my own personal insecurities at that time. I played with a ton of confidence but always wondered if I had done “enough.” It makes me feel good that, as an adult, I never need to wonder about that anymore.
Vita Redding was a Brown women's basketball student-athlete from 1995-99. She is a member of the 2019 Class of Legends of Ivy League Basketball that will be formally honored during the 2019 Ivy League Men's and Women's Basketball Tournaments on Saturday, March 16, at the John J. Lee Amphitheater in New Haven, Conn. Purchase tickets at
IvyMadness.com.