MH: What is your year, team, position and major

JM: I am inmy second year of university. I play for the women’s basketball team as a forward, and I am majoring in sports management.

MH: How did you first get involved with basketball?

JM: Growing up, I initially wanted to be a gymnast but was never put in gymnastics. I started growing taller, so everyone said I should play basketball or volleyball instead. So in Grade 6, when my elementary school started an after-school basketball club, I joined it. I gave basketball a try and I started to like it, even though I was nowhere near as good as the other kids. It was something I wanted to get better at, not like my other hobbies that I would pick up and quit.

MH: Tell us about your favourite basketball moment.

JM: The first moment that comes to mind was in high school at our home tournament. I had gotten a block and a steal into a left handed layup—which I don’t always make but this time I had made it—and I felt at peace. Then I heard the student section [cheering] really loudly and the announcers giving a play-by-play throughout that whole defensive and offensive possession. In that moment, though I was going to my left hand side, there was no panic, just calm.

MH: What are you most looking forward to for next season?

JM: This upcoming season, I am looking forward to competing as a team and just showing people how much the team has grown in this past off-season.

MH: What does your time after TWU look like, both for basketball and a career?

JM: I am not 100 percent sure, but as I have prayed to God, He has put some ideas in my mind. If I am given the opportunity to keep playing basketball after university, I would take it. But I really see myself coaching, as it is something I did through high school and over the summers, and I really loved it. So, if I am not playing the sport, I will still be very much involved in it. Career-wise, I see myself coaching or teaching, but also helping out on the business side of sports—specifically financially. One of my main goals post-grad is to help or start an organization that focuses on the financial accessibility of youth sports. Things can get really expensive, and I believe that every child should have the same opportunities to partake in sports and not be withheld from it due to finances.