Clara Pahl '20 Recruiting Profile

    I joined the homeschool basketball club (Ames Vision) when I was 11 years old, because my parents and friends encouraged me to. I didn’t really like it, because it was frustrating being on a team with people that knew how to play a sport that I didn't. A couple years passed, and I started shooting more in my driveway during the summer, and it slowly grew on me.

      Freshman year was a very rough year for me as I dealt with a lot of family and personal issues. I consider overcoming these struggles my greatest achievement. Basketball became my release and I was in my driveway shooting and working out way more than the year before. I looked forward going to practices, and of course, games.

     The summers before sophomore and junior year, I decided to work harder than ever before. I had the desire to be the best player I could be. I wanted to be coached and to be told the truth. I dedicated a lot of time to improving during the summer and I worked hard at practices. 

 In March, the day after my team and I got back from a national homeschool tournament in Kansas (very early in the morning), I went to my driveway and got to work once again to get prepared for the next season. I saw a tweet that said, "If you aren't putting in at least an hour of time per day to work on your skills in your sport, then do you actually want to play?" I have followed through with this and am usually at the gym/my driveway from 1 1/2 to 3ish hours, most days, no matter how I feel. I've also been working on strengthening my mental game and my confidence has skyrocketed. I lead by example and my teammates look up to me.

     I am known for being a hard worker in the gym and in the classroom. Academics are extremely important to me and I am very willing to sacrifice my free time to excel in school and basketball. Throughout my high school career, I've learned that you can be anything you want to be as long as you trust in God and work your butt off.

 I am in love with the game of basketball and I intend to stay in love with it.