Work Wins: The Life of a Omaha Women's Basketball Student-Athlete

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The buzzer sounded, signaling the end of a highly-touted matchup with the cross-town opponent, Creighton University, and the night wasn’t over for Omaha Women’s Basketball.

At the far end of the court at Baxter Arena, scores of children and their parents waited in line for an autograph session. The game was Millard Night, a way for the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO) to highlight the team’s connections to Millard Public Schools.

Many in line held shoes, jerseys, basketballs, and game programs for Omaha’s student athletes to sign. The kids, phones in hand, wanted to take selfies with the players, especially those who grew up in the same school district.

Meanwhile, UNO students waited nearby, visibly struggling to decide when it was polite to get in line, allowing the kids to go first but wanting the chance to say hello to the team before they left for the locker room. But the players stayed to meet everybody, even if it meant going home later than they would like.

Like their peers, the student athletes had homework to finish (players are always hard-pressed to finish everything before game days). And they had to get up early the next morning for classes.

“We always have our moments where, you think, wow, this is so hard," said Avril Smith, a freshman forward and prepharmacy major. “But there’s people who would beg to be in your position. I’m doing something that people dream of doing. That reality keeps pushing me.”

Watching this team shows that the things worth pursuing will test our limits. The work never ends, whether that’s basketball, the classroom, or everywhere in between.

“This is an experience only so many of us get,” said Regan Juenemann, a freshman kinesiology major. “College is about getting an education, but we’re being exposed to so many more opportunities.”

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