I go to the University of Wisconsin and play women's basketball . I think that the best advice I've ever been given , um , probably comes from my mom who was also my coach in high school , and she would always say that great things never come from comfort zones , and that's something that's always stuck with me throughout my college journey and just knowing that even when things get hard , pushing yourself to . Go into an area that you might be unfamiliar with or a little bit more uncomfortable with is where you're going to grow the most .
I've been really blessed to have the most incredible role models and parents and grandparents and just coaches and friends and Former teammates and so to know that I'm in that position now to be that for not only my younger teammates but also younger girls in the community or just people all around is something that's really cool and definitely a privilege that I don't take lightly . So just to know that my voice has impact and that my advice could potentially really help someone or I could say something that sticks with someone for a long time is an incredible opportunity . I think my biggest piece of advice that I would give to younger athletes trying to play in college is just to continue to keep the fun in the game .
However , it is something that so many of us college athletes , especially in basketball , do have to navigate . And again , I was really lucky to have great people around me who were advocating for me and also who were just giving me advice and talking to different . Coaches and helping me figure out what would be the best fit for me , but I will say I think something that was crucial to my portal process the first time around and the second time around was just keeping really strong relationships with coaches that I said no to the first time .
So just to know that my voice has impact and that my advice could potentially really help someone or I could say something that sticks with someone for a long time is an incredible opportunity . I think my biggest piece of advice that I would give to younger athletes trying to play in college is just to continue to keep the fun in the game . It can really quickly become overwhelming or especially now with social media , it can become about rankings or what platform you're getting posted on or how many offers you have .
In early May , so you really only have a month to decide where you want to spend potentially the next 3 years of your life . So it's definitely a big decision and a lot comes with it , but my biggest advice would just be to really do your research , make sure that you talk to all the players on the team , ask the hard questions . Ask the coaches the hard questions and get all the information that you can before making a decision , because once you do , that will be your life for the next however many years and so it's really important to make sure that you pick a place that you feel really comfortable and that you'll grow , not only on the court or in your sport , but also as a person .
