After our first and last WAC tournament game on March 11, I walked out of the locker room, to the bleachers, and into the embrace of my mom. I'm from Phoenix, so my family made the four-hour drive up to Vegas to watch us play. We didn't know it then, but even though we won, this would be the last game of the year. After greeting them, I walked up to the top of the arena to find my dad. My dad sits in the handicap section at the top of the arena because he has a disability from playing football. He played at Northern Illinois and later went on to play seven years in the NFL with the St. Louis/Arizona Cardinals and the Los Angeles Raiders, and then two years in the World League with the Frankfurt Galaxy in Germany. My dad has been retired since before I was born, but the end of his athletic career was far from the end of his life. He graduated from NIU with a degree in sociology and minor in Spanish, and he went on to open up his own church, work as a chaplain in a juvenile prison, run several care homes for the elderly, and now he coaches my younger brothers' club basketball team. I think that when you're young, you think that your sport is everything that you have. But just as youth doesn't last, neither do sports. Eventually you have to hang up your jersey and pursue goals that aren't actually a goal post or a hoop or an end zone.
For our seniors, Kamira, Genessa, Joana, Carla, and Olivia, their college careers ended abruptly. I think that this experience made a lot of us realize that there is a lot more to life than just sports. We all know that one day our athletic careers will end. This truth can be painful to some and comforting to others, and I tend to lean towards the latter. I remember joking around with my teammates and saying, "Do you guys remember before you started playing college basketball and you had hobbies?". I used to love to take portraits of my friends. I own four different cameras that I don't even use anymore. Olivia wants to be on Master Chef one day. Madeline embroiders her own clothing. Sarah used to skateboard. I see the different passions and interests that my teammates have and it's beautiful to learn who they are as people, outside of basketball.
These are things that our boosters, fans, and even our coaches don't know about us. These are also things that we tend to forget about ourselves because we are so consumed with basketball. But what are we without basketball? This all makes you look at yourself in the mirror and ask, who am I? When basketball is stripped from you like it was from us indefinitely, you suddenly find yourself with hours of free time, which you can spend rekindling the fire of the hobbies that you used to have and you can spend them thinking: What am I going to do when this is all over? I am thankful that this is not my senior year because unfortunately, our seniors were forced to do this much earlier than they planned, especially since the rest of their academic careers were also put into limbo. It is sad for all of us because as an underclassman, a large part of the reason that you show up every day is for your seniors. So, when all of this ended, it felt a bit as though all of it was for nothing.
But although that's how it may feel, that could not be farther from the truth. While we tend to look at the destination or the end of things, what matters most is the journey. I think that Kamira said it best, that she is not too sad about the way that things ended because she already plays each game as if it was her last. What makes our three WAC tournament games different from any other game? It's the same team, same coaches, same plays. All that is different is that these games are at the end of the season. We all have our own reasons as to why we play basketball, why we show up every day, why we play every game as though it is our last.
I know that our seniors are a year or two older than me, but I feel like I can offer some valuable advice to them and to any athlete, of any gender, at any level, anywhere around the world. My advice would be not to let this ruin you. To those who still have more time: play every single game as if it was your last because you never know when it will be. Dive on the ground for every loose ball, play the best help defense that you can, get right back up after you fall down, and help your teammate back up when they fall down. Everyone on my team knows that I will literally ball until I literally fall. Often to the dismay of our athletic trainer, I will drive my body until the wheels fall off. To those who do not have any time left: Know that your sport is not all that you have. Although this situation is not what everyone wanted their year to end like, it is a great opportunity for athletes to find themselves off the court/field/track/pool/etc. Do not just look at your sport; look at the reason why you play your sport. Because you may have lost your sport, but you did not lose your passion. I would encourage all athletes to use this unideal situation to find out who they really are and what is really important to them, not in spite of your love for your sport, but because of it.
Until Next Year,
Leilani Peat #14
For our seniors, Kamira, Genessa, Joana, Carla, and Olivia, their college careers ended abruptly. I think that this experience made a lot of us realize that there is a lot more to life than just sports. We all know that one day our athletic careers will end. This truth can be painful to some and comforting to others, and I tend to lean towards the latter. I remember joking around with my teammates and saying, "Do you guys remember before you started playing college basketball and you had hobbies?". I used to love to take portraits of my friends. I own four different cameras that I don't even use anymore. Olivia wants to be on Master Chef one day. Madeline embroiders her own clothing. Sarah used to skateboard. I see the different passions and interests that my teammates have and it's beautiful to learn who they are as people, outside of basketball.
These are things that our boosters, fans, and even our coaches don't know about us. These are also things that we tend to forget about ourselves because we are so consumed with basketball. But what are we without basketball? This all makes you look at yourself in the mirror and ask, who am I? When basketball is stripped from you like it was from us indefinitely, you suddenly find yourself with hours of free time, which you can spend rekindling the fire of the hobbies that you used to have and you can spend them thinking: What am I going to do when this is all over? I am thankful that this is not my senior year because unfortunately, our seniors were forced to do this much earlier than they planned, especially since the rest of their academic careers were also put into limbo. It is sad for all of us because as an underclassman, a large part of the reason that you show up every day is for your seniors. So, when all of this ended, it felt a bit as though all of it was for nothing.
But although that's how it may feel, that could not be farther from the truth. While we tend to look at the destination or the end of things, what matters most is the journey. I think that Kamira said it best, that she is not too sad about the way that things ended because she already plays each game as if it was her last. What makes our three WAC tournament games different from any other game? It's the same team, same coaches, same plays. All that is different is that these games are at the end of the season. We all have our own reasons as to why we play basketball, why we show up every day, why we play every game as though it is our last.
I know that our seniors are a year or two older than me, but I feel like I can offer some valuable advice to them and to any athlete, of any gender, at any level, anywhere around the world. My advice would be not to let this ruin you. To those who still have more time: play every single game as if it was your last because you never know when it will be. Dive on the ground for every loose ball, play the best help defense that you can, get right back up after you fall down, and help your teammate back up when they fall down. Everyone on my team knows that I will literally ball until I literally fall. Often to the dismay of our athletic trainer, I will drive my body until the wheels fall off. To those who do not have any time left: Know that your sport is not all that you have. Although this situation is not what everyone wanted their year to end like, it is a great opportunity for athletes to find themselves off the court/field/track/pool/etc. Do not just look at your sport; look at the reason why you play your sport. Because you may have lost your sport, but you did not lose your passion. I would encourage all athletes to use this unideal situation to find out who they really are and what is really important to them, not in spite of your love for your sport, but because of it.
Until Next Year,
Leilani Peat #14