PROFESSIONAL ATHLETE
Chatilla van Grinsven has been a prominent member of the Dutch National Basketball Team since 2006, and selected to the Dutch Senior National Team since 2010 where she has led the team throughout her basketball career.
In 2008 she signed her athletic-scholarship in the United States to play for Colorado State University, while studying BA Speech Communication.
In 2011, van Grinsven transferred to Saint Joseph’s University to play for the Hawks in Philadelphia, where she had to sit out the 2011-2012 season due to NCAA transfer rules. Living in Philadelphia, van Grinsven became an active member of the “Heart of a Hawk” service program, where she dedicated her free time to the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia while also serving food to the homeless people with the help of several local non-profit-organizations. In May 2012, van Grinsven was awarded the Roosevelt Hunter Community Service Award.
CHAMPIONSHIPS & AWARDS
In 2012, van Grinsven became eligible to play for Saint Joseph’s University and marked the 2012-2013 season as an distinguished year for her and the team (15ppg and 10,5rpg). Van Grinsven led her team to the Atlantic-10 Championship and the NCAA Tournament appearance for the first time in 10 years, while accumulating numerous honours throughout her season such as the A-10 First Team All Conference, A-10 All Championship Team, Big-5 Player of the Year, scoring her 1000th career point, while winning the NCAA Woman of the Year winner award in the A-10 Conference.
Van Grinsven was also nominated as the NCAA Woman of the Year Award in the United States; awarding her distinctive performance in the class-room, on the basketball court, and her service in the community. In May 2013, van Grinsven graduated with a bachelor's degree in International Business with a focus in Economics. In April 2013, van Grinsven signed a WNBA training camp contract with the Connecticut Suns.
EUROPEAN TOP CLUBS
In the winter of 2013, van Grinsven signed her first European professional contract with French Euroleague team, and France Champion, Bourges Basket where she won the French Cup Championship and became Final Four finalist in the FIBA Euroleague Women. 2014, van Grinsven signed with the Premier Turkish League club Ormanspor in Ankara and in 2015 she signed her professional contract with the French Premier League club in Arras, becoming a prominent player in the French League with her rebounding skills (9,5rpg) and scoring (13,5ppg) capacity. She went on to sign her 2016 season with the Turkish Premier League team Osmaniye, in Turkey and has recently signed her next contract in Turkey with Euroleague powerhouse Galatasaray in Istanbul.
In 2018, van Grinsven signed with the Spanish premier league team Uni Ferrol where she was a prominent player for the team in scoring and rebounding. Her last season, 2019-2020, she came out for EuroCup team KP Brno in Czech Republic, marking her 14th year as a professional athlete.
