Katie Paganelli is a senior – finally. A member of Coach Shimmy’s 1st ever recruiting class, Katie has proven to be loyal, committed, tough, and faithful. In other words, she’s the lone survivor. As a reward for Katie’s perseverance, she is on track to score her 1000th

point as a Billiken at some point during this season & has already been a part of several record breaking teams at SLU. That however, is not enough for Katie. This senior captain wants to finish her career as a four year starter while helping to lead Saint Louis University Women’s Basketball to its best season in program history. Coach Shimmy is confident she will, assuming she finishes what she started….

 Katie Paganelli


Diary Entry #1


I just played the LAST, 1st game of my college career…wow! I can’t believe the time is already here. I have no idea where I am going to be or what I am going to be doing in about 5 months, but until that time comes I will be competing for an Atlantic 10 Championship. For those of you who do not know what that means, here is a short outlook on what it includes: hours and hours or practice, hours of watching film, lifting weights, getting extra shots up on my own time, going to class, keeping up with all of my assignments, studying, taking ice baths, getting treatment, and then finding time to eat, sleep, and keep up with friends and family. This doesn’t sound like much fun does it? Well, it is the time of my life!! The only negative thing about this year that I can think of is that it is going to be my last.

With my senior season getting underway, sometimes I like to look back to see how far I have come. My first year here at SLU I was one of five. I had four other classmates that came in with me. We were tight, we had a bond, and we all had fun together. We were the five freshmen that were going to turn this program around and make history together at SLU. Nowhere in my right mind would I have thought that I would be the only one here by the time my senior year rolled around. There is no way any of the dreams I had my freshmen year were going to come true because I couldn’t do it by myself. But here it is, I’m the only one left, and this is THE year!

This year, I am a part of the best and my most favorite team yet at SLU! This is the year we are going to make history together! I feel like everyone is on the same page. Practices are more intense this year than they have EVER been in the past. Every single one of my teammates holds an important piece to completing our puzzle as a TEAM.

For my piece, Coach has delegated me as one of the three captains of this team. This means she has high expectations for me. Higher than they have ever been before. My responsibilities as a senior and a captain on this team are to ultimately be a leader. Being a leader means knowing what the right thing to do is and actually doing it EVERY time. Being a leader is working the hardest. Being a leader is taking responsibility. Being a leader is knowing my teammates. Being a leader is challenging…

The most challenging thing to me right now is taking one day at a time. I have my eyes on what is going to happen with this team in the future because I trust in it so much that I have to pull myself back. I know right now that if we did not have an opportunity to get better today, then we would not be where we need to be to reach our goals tomorrow. In the past I have not been the most consistent person in practice, but this is something that has helped me to be the most consistent I have ever been. With that being said, I can’t wait to play Southern Illinois on Friday, but I know we have a whole week of practice and getting better ahead of us before we can reach one more step towards making history. Stay tuned…


Katie Paganelli #23
Class of 2010
Senior Entry #1 
 
 

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