I always loved playing basketball growing up. We had a hoop in my driveway and I would go shoot around a lot.
When I was in sixth grade they had basketball tryouts but I was in England on a trip with my dad. My sister Ali went to tryouts and told the coaches that I wanted to play. Thankfully they put me on a team even though I missed tryouts. I loved it so much! My friends all played too so that made it even better.
I enjoyed basketball through middle school and had different coaches each year. We played at a tournament in Roosevelt and won!
I tried out in 9th grade which was really exciting since it was high school. I made the team. We had really cool yellow warm ups with our jersey. I wish I had a picture of them. I already packed my year books. I loved that year except that we had to practice on Saturday’s as well and for a ski lover that was tricky. I love basketball and I love skiing so which do you choose?
The basketball coaches for the high school teams were Mr. and Mrs. Pyper. They were very strict. I was so scared of them for a few years until I realized that was their coach side. They were really nice people. They were nice coaches too but just didn’t take any crap from anyone.
My friends and I felt like we were treated unfairly by the coaches during our 9th grade year. We felt like they favored the girls in the grade above us and the grade below us. We kind of felt like we didn’t matter. So when 10th grade rolled around we decided not to try out. It was a really dumb teenage thing to do. We thought we were sticking it to them. Ha ha, joke was on us. They didn’t need us and it didn’t slow the teams down. We just missed out big time. Although I did get plenty of skiing in that year.
I regretted that decision so much. So I went to the coaches at the end of the school year and asked for a second chance. They gave me a chance. I went to summer ball. I got to play with the team at a tournament in Colorado and some other games through the summer.
I was trying to relearn the plays. I wasn’t quite as tall. It was a little rough and I noticed how much I was behind the others who had played every year.
When tryouts rolled around I thought I could make it but I knew I wasn’t good enough to start. I didn’t know if I could catch up. Skiing was also in the back of my mind. If I made the team I wouldn’t be able to ski. So I ended up not trying out that year or my senior year. It was tough because the team took state my junior year. I would have been a bench warmer but I could have had a ring.
I played intramural basketball at Utah State when I was in college. When we lived in Bountiful I played on a city rec league. Then once we moved to Utah County I have enjoyed playing with different stakes. One year my stake won the region championship.
