Bobi Aaliyah Mack '20 Recruiting Profile

I absolutely loved doing skill work and working on my shot, and would watch highlights of Kyrie Irving, Stephen Curry, Maya Moore, and Candace Parker for hours on end, studying their footwork and technique. When it came to games, competing and winning were my ultimate goals, and losing would make me even hungrier. In just a short amount of time, I found myself in the gym with my dad pretty much everyday, continuously working on my game. Fast forward to senior year of high school, 7 years later, and I still have the same passion, drive, and competitiveness as I did before but at an even higher level.

I have learned many, if not most, of my life lessons from the game: teamwork, grit, work ethic, success in failure, and all the other things every athlete learns. But the most important one was a quote I heard at a conference, “Protect your joy”. I was going through a rough patch in basketball and started questioning if I was even good enough to play a collegiate sport. What this taught me was the mental part of the game, something I had not struggled with until much later in my career, and I am glad I experienced it.

With 6am workouts, after-school lifting, individual skill work, and team practice all in one day almost everyday, I devote most of my free time to the sport I love. However, school has always been my top priority as a student-athlete. Math has been my favorite subject since I started learning and science in nature has continued to fascinate me. As for my collegiate goals, I would like to be a Biology or Engineering major.

I am thankful for basketball and the places it has taken and will take me, and especially appreciative of my parents for making all of it possible. My family is such a huge support system in my life, they are the reason I am who I am and I strive to be the best person I can be.