Dec. 19, 2008

About the author>>
Class: Junior | Major: Biology | Hometown: Pineville, Ky.

A junior member of the Bulldogs women’s basketball team, Smith was named Appalachian Athletic Conference Freshman of the Year in 2006-07 and Conference Player of the Year last season...was an NAIA Third Team All-America selection last season…owns school records for most points in a game a game (54) and most points in a season (778)

Learn more>> Union College | Union Athletics

Finals Week | December 19, 2008

The last week has been a real challenge for individuals as well as our team in general. We faced a Saint Catharine team whom beat us in our first game of the season at home as well as looking ahead to our Saturday game against the No. 13 team in the NAIA DI in Campbellsville. Not to mention it was finals week last week and the majority of this week have been finals!!! Sometimes you wonder where the hours of the day go....between class, practice, film sessions, and homework and studying, you lose yourself in exactly what you were supposed to be doing when and if it got done ha ha! But it does always seem that it gets done somehow or another.

 I don't think I would have it any other way though. Being given the opportunity to play college basketball had been amazing and I may not have known everything that comes along with it when I made my decision, but I know I wouldn't give it up for anything. All the tough workouts in the gym, the preseason conditioning, the early morning speeches after arriving back on campus after games, and the brutal film sessions are more than worth the success and enjoyment that basketball has brought about for me, and I think that my teammates would say the same. Being an athlete and having the responsibilities that you have in the classroom can sometimes be tough. It's a struggle to snap out of the mindset of being in the classroom, and going straight to practice after a rough final and changing your focus. But the best part about practice is that it should be our time to do what we love to do. At times it seems just as tough as the tests and the homework but its important to remember that we are lucky enough to have the opportunity that we do, and that we should extract all that we can from it.

At the end of a long season you can go back and laugh at the sleepless nights that you spent during finals, and the way that you walked around like a zombie through the day and practice. You can look back at the struggles that came about in practice and so on that seemed like such a big deal at the time and realize that they may have been the best thing that could have happened to your team. College basketball for me is a way of life. I wouldn't know what to do with myself without it. It’s the way I plan my day, my week and my year. And the significance that basketball has for me is what I’ve focused on in the last week to pull me through. Playing in our previous two games was a release. Basically it was the only time that I had that I wasn't thinking about tests or thinking about studying and how my grades were going to turn out.

But I'm glad finals are over and I'm thankful for the break and the opportunity to be home for Christmas. After the break we have a lot to prepare for. We play some extremely good non-conference teams and then finish the season with 14 straight conference games before the tournament.

By Brooke Smith | posted by the NAIA | December 19, 2008