The theme of this story is sacrifice and it's pretty evident throughout. Basketball has shaped me into the woman I am today, and I know it sounds cliché but I truthfully don't know where I would be without basketball and all the lessons I've learned from it. For the sake of you, I'll only share up to my pro career or else you'd basically be reading a full chapter book.
This game came into my life 20 years ago when I was first introduced to basketball by my dad when I was 5. The athletic genes run in my family so I naturally gravitated towards it and really didn't pay any mind to any other sport besides basketball. I was born right outside of Chicago and played on an all boys rec league team and I remember being the best player lol. Until the 6th grade, I only played on boys teams and I'm grateful for that because it builds a different type of hoopin personality within you to be more gritty and physical which is a big portion of my game now, even at 25.
When I was 8, my dad got a new job as a Corrections Officer for the new prison camp they had just built all the way out in Tucson, AZ. There, my dad was able to build my mom her dream house: 2 stories with a giant pool and jacuzzi, open kitchen layout, 4 bedrooms, 2.5 baths and every possible detail my mom could have wanted. After we got settled, I pushed my parents to find me a new team and I landed with a co-ed team called Team Explosion and played with them for a good amount of time. When I got to the 6th grade, we finally discovered a girls AAU team called Tucson Shock and it was a different type of pace that I wasn't used to after playing with boys for so long. We played in different tournaments all over Arizona and traveled to other places like El Paso and San Diego, which is ironically where I ended up at.
Not many people know this story, but it definitely is one of the biggest and most important times of my life that set me and my basketball career up forever. The summer going into my 8th grade year, my dad was doing some research online and found a Nike basketball camp in San Diego and decided to make a family trip out of it. The camp was at La Jolla Country Day and was ran by high school legend Terri Bamford, who has a long list of achievements and girls she's helped get to college including Candice Wiggins. We packed up the truck and made the long 6 hour drive to San Diego. The camp was a week long and was coached by some of her former players and all of her high school players, who among them was Kelsey Plum. Thankfully, I had a good performance throughout the week and Coach Bamford invited me to play in her high school open gyms that she held after camp everyday. I was scared shitless, for lack of a better word, but I was excited for the opportunity to play against an older group of girls. It wasn't long until the idea of moving to San Diego for school came up. After going back to Tucson, I was in awe about what I had just experienced and knew that Country Day was the school I wanted to go to and Coach Bamford was the coach I wanted to play for.
We spent my 8th grade year getting all of the necessary information we needed to apply to the college prep school. Now, at the time, it was $28,000 a year to go to this school and I know today that that number is much, much higher. The thought of even having to pay for high school was an absurd idea in the first place. After going through the application process and passing all of the necessary tests, I learned that I had been accepted. I cried the happiest tears, but it didn't last long when my parents had to explain to me that we didn't get enough tuition assistance and we couldn't afford it. My smile quickly faded and my tears of joy instantly turned to the saddest tears. No parent wants to see their kid so crushed and devastated, so like any other good parents, my parents did everything they could to find a way. Thankfully, we were able to appeal the decision and got a lot more financial aid and it was then decided that I'd be going to LJCD for high school!
Now remember my mom's dream house that I mentioned before? Moving to San Diego meant selling the house and uprooting our entire life. I'm tearing up writing this because looking back on it, it breaks my heart that my mom had to let go of her masterpiece of a home just so that I could live my dreams of playing basketball and have a better opportunity to go to college for it. Sacrifice. I did say that was going to be the theme of this story right? This really was just the beginning.
We didn't have any family in San Diego except my auntie Lina who lived in Temecula. Now if you're familiar with southern California, you'll understand how far Temecula is from La Jolla, which is where my new school was. For those that don't know, it's about an hour and a half ONE WAY WITHOUT TRAFFIC, and we all know how ugly traffic gets in California. I vividly remember one day when it started down pouring rain and in California, traffic becomes a hot mess and people magically don't know how to drive anymore when there's the slightest bit of rain. It took my mom and I almost 3 hours to get to school and I ended up missing 2 class periods. Luckily, all of my teachers knew my living situation so they were very understanding, but that wasn't how everyday would go. My mom and I would wake up every morning at 5am to get ready for school and work, and we'd have to leave by 6:30am so that I could make it to school by 8:30am. I wouldn't finish class until 2:30pm then I'd have practice. My freshman year, I played volleyball as well so I'd have volleyball practice from 3:30-5:30pm and then had another 2 hours of basketball practice and wouldn't finish until about 8pm. Then we'd make the hour and a half trek back to Temecula and got home closer to 10pm, not to mention the homework I still had left to do and that in itself wasn't easy considering that LJCD was a high academic school. 5am would come sooo quickly. My mom and I did this whole routine for a majority of my freshman year.
My mom's new job was luckily 2 blocks away from school so she'd come straight over and wait for me until I finished my practices, but my dad on the other hand wasn't as lucky to find a job right away so he had to stay in Tucson. Sacrifice. My parents had to be separated. Now if you know me, you know how close I am to my parents. They're literally my best friends and they're the type to "adopt" a lot of me and my sister's friends as their own because everyone just loves them that much. They're those parents. After we sold my mom's dream house, we downsized into a rental house where my dad stayed for most of my freshman year. My dad of course never wanted to miss a game, so he would make the 6 hour drive from Tucson almost every week just to watch me play. Sacrifice. It wasn't until the end of my freshman season that my dad was finally able to move out to California with us. I was just happy for us all to be reunited again.
My sophomore year was different. We were able to move into an apartment a lot closer to school, but the new job my dad was able to get was another Corrections Officer position all the way in Victorville. Again, for those that don't know the geography of southern California, Victorville is 2 AND A HALF HOURS AWAY. So again, sacrifice. My dad would get up early Monday mornings to make the drive up to Victorville and was able to rent out a cheap room in a house with other coworkers where he'd stay for the week. He'd drive down during the week of course when I had games because again, he didn't want to miss a game.
Another story that not many people know about... My dad was a big guy. Like 400 pounds big guy. He has a couple of heart problems and combined with being overweight, it wasn't a healthy lifestyle. During my junior year, there was a period of time when he wasn't able to sleep for 2-3 days. Whenever he tried to sleep, he felt like he was drowning so he was scared to fall asleep. One morning after not getting much sleep for days at a time, he had to make the long drive to work and decided to take a 5 hour energy drink. This caused his heart to speed up and while driving, he had to pull over at a gas station in fear that he was suffering a heart attack and he passed out. He was rushed to the hospital and I remember my mom waking me up at 5am to tell me what happened and that she was on her way to go be by his side. My dad spent a week there. His body had ultimately swelled up with fluid, which explains why he felt like he was drowning when he slept, and he spent his time in the hospital essentially pissing it all out. Doc made it clear that it was time for him to lose weight and not too long after, my dad got gastric bypass surgery. He was unfortunately unable to make my state championship game due to recovering from his surgery. This was a very scary time in my life because I was very close to losing one of my best friends. This experience changed not only my dad's perspective on life but also mine. Life is too short people. Live that shit to the fullest!
On a positive note, my junior year did have some exciting moments because it was when I made the decision to commit to the University of Washington and reunite with Kels! I know the recruiting process is a lot different now than from when I was in, but nevertheless, it was very very stressful and overwhelming. I remember crying to my dad one night that I didn't want to deal with the process anymore and wanted to commit and get it over with, and after I did that, I felt the biggest weight lifted off my shoulders. I finished my high school career with a number of league championships, a CIF San Diego section championship, 2 regional championships and a state title. A pretty good high school career if you ask me!
I worked my ass off leading up to my departure date to UW. I knew I was stepping into a team that was fresh off the Final Four and I knew there were high expectations, but I tried not to put too much pressure on myself and go into this new chapter open minded and ready to grind. In June of 2016, it came time to finally head up to UW and start my college career. I was excited to say the least but it was definitely an adjustment! I struggled with finding my way and my identity as a player on this new team, but the unity of our freshman class made that transition a lot smoother.
My freshman year was kind of rough. I came in thinking that I would make an immediate impact and even though I felt that I deserved a chance and worked hard enough for it, I didn't land a spot in the top 7 that played in games. It was a hard pill for me to swallow, but I continued to work hard and stayed ready for when my time would come. I did see some action during some important times and I'm grateful for that, but I'm also grateful to have been forced to sit the bench and watch from the sidelines, which was the first time I had ever experienced that. It really does build character and it gave me a new perspective and the ability to learn from some of the All-Americans I had on my team. We made it all the way to the Sweet 16 that year.
We had a coaching change after my freshman year, so I saw it as a new opportunity and a clean slate. I worked my ass off yet again and felt like I was able to contribute a lot more, but it was difficult collectively because we didn't win very many games and finished last in the Pac 12 from every year then on. For anyone who has ever experienced that, knows how difficult and discouraging that can be. I started to lose some love for the game after the constant losing and even thought about transferring elsewhere, but the relationships I developed with my teammates and the thought of earning my degree from a university like UW ultimately led me to stay and stick it out for the rest of my time there.
The idea of playing after college wasn't even a thought. I was so focused on just getting through the rest of my college career, getting my degree and going straight to Nursing school. There was even a short period of time when I thought about joining the military, considering the military history in my family. I regret the mindset that I had of just trying to finish and get through the rest of my time in college because I lost sight of the beauties of college and wasn't present in the moment. Often times, I reminisce on my college career and there's a countless number of things that I would change, the biggest being the awareness and presence, or lack thereof, during my experience.
My senior night was the turning point for my post college career. My best friend, who was unable to play a college game due to injury, was able to suit up and do the opening jump ball. We beat UCLA who at the time was #8 in the country. My parents, sister and brother in law were all able to fly out and watch my last home game. I think that was the first time in a long time my whole college career that I was really present in the moment and taking everything in. That night made me realize that I still had so much left to give and wasn't ready to be done hoopin.
I'll end it right there, only because my pro career is another novel in itself, but needless to say, my career up to this point was a whirlwind. Without those experiences that I had when I was younger, in high school, and in college, I'm not sure exactly where I'd be and what my perspective on life would look like. My parents. I truly can't imagine if any of this would've been possible without their support and sacrifices and I am forever indebted to them for that. My mom has her dream house now that she plans to stay in forever, but maybe one day, I'll build her another. They tell me all the time "we hit the lottery when you got a full ride to UW and everything we did was absolutely worth it." Sacrifice. It really is a beautiful thing.
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