Tower Lorde and Rashanna Thorne are hoping to obtain basketball scholarships. And the two multisport athletes got a bit closer to their goal when they were named among four schoolgirls in the senior national side for this week’s FIBA Caribbean Cup in Suriname.
Also named to represent Barbados were Zahra Ashby and Deidre Lassiter.
Lorde, a 16-year-old student of The St Michael School, told Sunsport she had been unsure about whether she would be selected.
“At first I was in two minds whether or not I would have made the team in the first place because I am relatively young and kind of inexperienced. When I heard I was selected I was shocked. It still hasn’t soaked in; it may when I get on the plane,” she said while indicating that she had been playing the sport for two and a half years.
Lorde, who also plays netball, said she wasn’t going to give up that sport altogether, but she was concentrating on basketball because of the opportunities it could bring her.
“My focus now has been turned towards basketball. I will still play netball for my school but I am finished with club competitions and nationals.
“I do love both sports, but with basketball, I found myself going more places than with netball and I really want to get a scholarship and I don’t see any netball scholarships as of right now. I need to get a scholarship. Basketball is the only option for me right now,” she explained.
Like Lorde, Thorne started with netball as her main sport before she took on basketball. She was pleased that she was selected.
“I am excited. It was my first time at senior trials and I made it [on my first try]. I am very excited about the new experience and different levels of basketball,” she said.
She is also still playing netball and will be travelling with her school team Springer Memorial, which has been invited to Jamaica to compete against the top teams in the Caribbean.
Competing in multiple sports can sometimes be a challenge, but Thorne has been able to balance them well with her studies.
“After school I would go to training for basketball or netball, depending on the day, and if there is an important competition coming up for either one I would go to the sport which had the competition. It wasn’t bad balancing my schoolwork and this is exam time for me. After training I would come home and study,” she said.
In hopes of pursuing her dream of gaining a basketball scholarship, she is willing to work hard to better her ball handling skills and whatever else is needed to make it a reality. (RG)
