TCNJ

17 Prairie WINTER 2022 BILL CARDONI > My older brother and I used to play basketball in our backyard. I remember shooting around with him all day and falling in love with the game. We were very competitive. My mom had to run outside and break us up. > By sixth grade, I played basketball all year. I was mainly a point guard and then in high school I developed more muscle — my body and skillset grew into the guard position. I like the freedom that comes with being a guard. You can move around more and the point guard can find you as the play develops. > Transitioning from high school to college basketball was harder than I thought it would be, especially getting used to the pace. The women's basketball team is competitive and we play fast — that's one of our strengths. Figuring out that speed and finding my role on the team was something that took some time. > I didn't play in the season opener so my first game at TCNJ was against SUNY New Paltz. I was nervous. I scored 15 points and had five rebounds. It was a game I needed — my confidence was boosted. > After I scored my first points, it was like a spark caught fire. I was in the zone and nothing was going to take me out of it. I was playing like I knew I could. > I'm part of the EOF program, and a journalism graduate who writes for Cosmopolitan spoke to us over Zoom. The talk was so interesting it inspired me to switch from my original major of marketing to journalism. > Growing up, I have good memories of Sunday dinners with my family and watching the New York Giants. I'd love to write about sports because having those kinds of memories attached to a future job would be pretty cool. — as told to David Pavlak How I Got Here ARIANNA McCLEOD '25 This freshman hoopster shoots and scores in her collegiate debut. BILL CARDONI 17 Prairie WINTER 2022

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