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| Senior
Hayley Leake
has the dubious honor of being the oldest player
on the roster in 2007-08. The Billikens will count
on her experience in the backcourt to run the
offense with the same efficiency and heady play
that she has demonstrated in her 3 years as point
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In addition to always
making the correct pass and avoiding three
pointers at all costs, Hayley loves discovering
new music, reading the nutritional content of
everyone else’s food, and writing really big words
on paper.
She becomes the first senior to ever write in the
player diaries and we look for her to give us a
different perspective of a collegiate student
athlete as someone who’s been there and done that.
Let’s follow Hayley as she experiences her last 5
months of being a Division 1 basketball player.
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The Freshman
Diaries – HAYLEY LEAKE
The Other Game – Diary
Entry #2
Wake up. Take a shower. Get dressed. Grab my bag. Start
on my way. I look out the window, but I am really not
seeing anything. My mind is going over possibility after
possibility. My heart is already racing, and I am not
even there yet. There are a couple hours before it is my
time. This is a big day. I could even throw the word
‘pressure’ in that equation—something tells me not to
though—I have been to the line so many times before. No.
Really? Wow. Did I just spill that on myself? Perfect.
Nothing like a little more adversity. I walk up to the
door, my bag swinging from my shoulder, and take one
deep breath. It is game-time…
Welcome to my other game—a future professional in the
education field. Yep, you heard it right. I am going to
be one of the individuals that helps shape the minds of
your sons, daughters, nieces, nephews, and every other
person that you can think of—is that a little scary or
what? HaHa... Not really—it could always be worse. It is
so interesting to me how similar the game of basketball
is to everything else that I do. It was like I was
sitting in the car preparing for a game a few days ago.
I had my coffee. I had my music going strong. And I was
envisioning how each moment of my lesson would go—the
only thing missing was a basketball and Coach
Gray-Miller walking up and down the sideline with her
animated facial expressions and hand motions.. When I
began to teach, in that split second, I felt like I was
standing around the circle waiting for the tip.
Anticipation. Determination. Let’s do this. I could not
help but think, “Thank you”—for every single line that I
have had to run—for every single word of ‘constructive
criticism’ that I had to endure—for every single outside
detail that I had to put aside when I entered the
gym—all of these things got me here—all of these things
allowed me to stand in front of a class of students and
make it happen... make everything just come together..
So, a word of advice. When people try to make the
correlation between the game of basketball and the game
of life, listen a little closer. Playing collegiate
basketball is not all about jumpers, X’s and O’s, travel
schedules and wins and losses. Basketball is a teacher
of so many things—there is a whole other world outside
the gym doors that we do not think about a lot of the
time—until your standing there... waiting... because it
is almost time for you to open them.. It is moments like
these where I wonder where time has gone. I guess that
is all part of growing up. It is almost a surreal
feeling. But here I am. Almost at the end of the
road—experiencing everything like it was the first time.
Few things have ever seemed so right before—it is like I
have a new set of eyes. I guess you were right—there is
just something about being a senior.
Hayley Leake
Class of 2008
Diary Entry #2 |
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© Copyright
Shimmy Gray, All Rights Reserved. |
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