Ever since I could remember, basketball has been a part of my life. It’s a love that I can never seem to get over. Being born and raised in Chicago, I idolized Michael Jordan and wanted to be the female version of him, dreaming of playing for the WNBA when I grew up. Starting off practicing my dunks on the Little Tikes hoop in the basement (tongue out of course), then promoting myself to one-on-one sessions with my dad in the backyard, I finally started playing organized ball in 7th grade. In high school, I made the Junior Varsity team as a freshman, and played Varsity the rest of my high school career.  

Looking back on it, I didn’t really start thinking about playing college basketball until junior year. I didn’t go to a huge program that was a powerhouse for athletics so I wasn’t really informed about the recruiting process. I kind of just went with the flow and figured whatever happens, happens. I didn’t care, I just wanted to play. Then when my parents asked me if this was something I wanted to pursue in college, I had to say yes, because I just couldn’t picture my life without basketball.  

This is where Chris Krause and the materials in Athletes Wanted comes in! I enrolled Chris’ NCSA program, I believe after my junior season and soon enough, letters from all different colleges started pouring in. I had to talk to coaches, send out game tapes, log everything I did, write emails etc. I’m not going to lie, it was a lot of work, but I knew I needed to do it if I wanted to play, and that was something I was committed to doing. Chris got my name out there, guided me through what I needed to do with all these schools, and ultimately made me a collegiate basketball player.  

Making a final decision on which college to attend was probably the most difficult part of the process. I came to the realization that I would have to relinquish my hoop dreams of making it to the WNBA, so I based my decision on academics as well as athletics. I ended up going to the University of Chicago which is a Division III program in a very competitive conference. I feel as though I got the best of both worlds, getting a degree from one of the best universities in the world, while also being able to play the game that I love. The guideance that Chris and Athletes Wanted gave me made all this whole experience possible for me and I am glad I have the opportunity to do the same for today’s athletes.

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 18th, 2008 at 5:47 am and is filed under Recruiting Stories. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.