GAME ON: The Player – Stephanie Sayaf
Game ON Contributor David Varhol
GAME ON: The Player – Stephanie Sayaf
Q & A with Stephanie Sayaf, Cranston West Girl’s Basketball
What has been the biggest challenge being a high school athlete?
The biggest challenge is definitely coming from a public school. When you come from a public school, especially girl’s sports, most of the athletes are not passionate about basketball. Some aren't willing to work hard and do not have great talent. So having such a passion for the sport makes it so difficult to play with different people who don't share the same care and love for the game as I do.
Who is your biggest motivator?
My biggest motivators are definitely my parents. I love making them proud. Before and after every game they give me pointers, tell me what I did right and wrong, and overall are my biggest fans.
Who is your biggest rival?
My biggest rivals are all of my AAU teammates. Playing AAU makes you meet people from all around the state. When you are so used to playing and traveling with AAU teammates and then having to play against them during the school season it makes it very fun and competitive.
What are you working to improve your game?
To improve my game I’m working on my quickness, speed and agility.
My greatest memory on the court would be my junior year against Coventry when I had a break through game against Coventry where after having a tough first half, I came through in the second half and played great. And to top it all off, scored the winning basket with about 7 seconds left.
How are you able to balance your schoolwork with practices, games, and training?
Balancing school, work, and basketball gets a little difficult at times. Especially because basketball is a winter sport, which means second quarter, which is the most challenging quarter school wise. But I manage. I make sure I prepare ahead of time to know how to spend my time wisely.
Where do you see yourself going from here, do you plan to pursue this sport in college?
I broke my foot this summer so I lost a lot of opportunity to play in college because I could not play during the big AAU tournaments. But, that didn't hold me back. I am looking to play at a Div. III school so that I can mainly focus on my schoolwork. I know that many girl athletes do not pursue their sport from high school onto college and for that reason I am very excited to move on and continue to play basketball.