Elyse Adams spends all of her free time outside of her academic life throwing around the basketball because it gives her everything she needs to be happy.
The 16-year-old Corner Brook native is a member of the Corner Brook High squad competing for gold at the 2018 West Coast Provincial Grade 11 Girls’ Basketball Tournament being held this weekend in Twillingate.
She has been playing the game since Grade 6, her interest piqued by the hours she had spent shooting the ball around with her older brothers when she was a youngster.
It’s a game that has allowed her to be active, meet some friends who have become close to her because of time spent together and enjoy the fun that comes with a group of girls bonding on road trips around the province.
“I (like) the bonding with the team and coaches, and we always have a lot of fun,” she said when asked about why the game has become so important to her.
Her team is expected to be competitive in a four-team single round-robin tournament, but she knows she has a role to play and she plans on doing her best to make sure she leaves it all on the floor.
“Scoring some points and just knowing I did my best,” she said.
While the team has been working as a unit for only over a month, she believes the team put in a good effort getting ready and she’s excited about seeing how they perform.
It’s going to be a little rough on the body, she figures, with the team heading east with only seven players available because injuries have left some girls out of action, but she believes everybody will try to pace themselves and do what they can to keep up with the action.
“It’s going to be a lot of work, but I think we can do it if we all try hard enough,” she said.
A smile for sure, thinking of spending another road trip with a great group doing something she loves to do.
