Kaylie Abriani '19 Recruiting Profile

My goal is to be a student-athlete at a college that is competitive in both academics and athletics. I started playing basketball in elementary school, and it has always been a goal of mine to play at the college level. I have dedicated a lot of my time and effort to play basketball at the next level (with a ton of support from my parents) and will continue to do so,  as I love the game. I pride myself on being a great teammate,  and I feel I have really developed my leadership skills both on and off the court as a result of how I approach the game and my teammates. Although I play best in the shooting guard and point guard positions, I am a true all around player and can play any position on the court, even post with my 5'6" height, and have had to do so when other players were hurt. My strengths include my ability to read the floor and set up plays, my left-handed shots even though I'm right-handed, shooting deep 3's with a quick release, and my defense, especially blocking shots. I also am able to adapt to change on and off the court and have learned a great deal over the past year and a half regarding how to approach circumstances out of my control, so I feel that is definitely a strength.

I played JV as a freshman, and Varsity level my sophomore, junior and senior years.  I had to attend a brand new high school for my senior year due to my dad's job relocating him, and that required us to move from Auburn, WA to Olympia, WA.  I was fortunate to have two of my AAU teammates on my new high school team, so it made it easier for me to attend the new school.  Even though I was the "new kid" my senior year, and the coach already had his starters and players set, I ended up having the 2nd most blocks and 3rd most steals for the season even with little playing time.  I averaged 4 points a game, along with the following averages per game: 1 assist, 1 block, 1.8 rebounds, and 1.3 steals.  For my junior year, I averaged about 10 minutes of playing time per game, but was the 5th highest scorer for the team, top shot blocker (had 12 more than any other player), 4th in rebounds, and 4th or 5th in assists and steals. For my AAU team in the spring and summer of 2018, I was the team co-captain and started as the shooting guard, although we had a coaching change in July and some players injured, so I did get used in other positions when needed. I played in 4 USJN tournaments for the Nike Blue Star organization and was honored to be chosen by competing coaches and Blue Star evaluators as an All-Star player in 3 of those tournaments. 

At this time, my future career path is hopefully going to lead to me becoming a law enforcement officer or detective. I went on a very busy and crime filled ride along with an officer a couple of years ago and it really helped me to see that I do really enjoy that type of work. After talking with the police commander of investigations, I learned that a business management path combined with criminal justice is the most useful degree path to follow for a law enforcement career, so I am looking for a school that offers such an opportunity. I graduated high school with a 3.08 cumulative GPA, partly due to the first semester of my Junior year and taking a math course I wasn't ready for; I worked hard the next 3 semesters to get my GPA back up.  I scored a 960 on my SAT, and I know that isn't the best score, but I don 't do all that well with standardized tests; my SAT score is not indicative of my work ethic and academic ability.  

I did get recruited to play for an NAIA Division 1 school, Menlo College, and received an athletic scholarship from them; I committed in September of 2018. Due to an unfortunate set of circumstances beyond my control that happened off the court (that I will provide more information about via email/phone call/in-person meeting), I am no longer on the team and am leaving the college at the end of the semester, mid-December 2019.  I am currently looking to join a team - mid-season if possible - but definitely for the Fall of 2020. I have enjoyed many aspects of college thus far and have adapted to the difference in academics and time management associated with being a college student-athlete and currently have a 3.5 GPA. I continue to get in tons of shooting practice and training to stay in condition for when I can get back on a team.