Rising up in Spain, Sarah Sturdy’s first introduction to the sport was from her mom, Allison Feaster. Feaster, a former standout at Harvard, was drafted by the Los Angeles Sparks in ’98 with the fifth general choose, went on to turn into an All-Star in ’04 and performed abroad in France, Portugal, Italy and Spain. Sturdy remembers going to her mother’s practices and watching her put in work on the hardwood, all whereas falling in love with the sport herself. “She would hustle rather a lot,” Sturdy tells us over Zoom in Might. “That was most likely her most important factor. Simply vitality on protection, hustle and [being] aggressive. She [was] a dawg.”
The sport has all the time been part of Sturdy’s life—she even suited up for a similar membership staff as mother—nevertheless it wasn’t till she moved to the US in fifth grade that she began taking her recreation to the subsequent degree given the extent of competitors.
“The expertise degree and talent degree is rather a lot totally different right here, so positively it’s somewhat tougher. I began getting outcomes out of it, so I used to be like, OK, let me lock in,” she says. Off the courtroom, Sturdy additionally needed to take care of the transition that comes with shifting from a unique nation, whether or not it was cultural changes—in Spain, she would watch loads of American motion pictures and was nervous about having to take care of bullies in class like what she noticed within the movies—or the language barrier. Sturdy, who speaks Spanish, initially struggled with studying comprehension in English.
She’s come a good distance since then. A five-star recruit and the No. 1 ranked participant within the ESPNW 100 for the category of 2024, Sturdy is an plain expertise with an all-around recreation—at 6-2, she makes use of her energy and dimension to her benefit, whether or not it’s holding her personal on the publish, utilizing her silky clean handles to drive to the rim or counting on her acute courtroom imaginative and prescient to dish out dimes to her teammates. The 2023-24 Gatorade North Carolina Ladies Basketball Participant of the 12 months averaged a double-double at Grace Christian College (NC) whereas additionally sustaining a 3.68 GPA.
Sturdy, who would watch highlights of Maya Moore—her favourite participant—and Breanna Stewart, had all the time dreamt of going to UConn. And but, when it got here time to make her remaining resolution, the ultimate issue had nothing to do with location, she says, however relatively, what she felt inside. “It’s all the time been a dream faculty,” she says. “I simply form of felt it in my coronary heart, and I talked to my household. I prayed about it.”
At UConn, Sturdy desires to raise her recreation and get “accustomed to the faculty tempo” and the extent of physicality—from getting in form to turning into extra environment friendly and a constant shooter. She’s set to hitch a Huskies squad that simply misplaced standout Aaliyah Edwards to the 2024 WNBA Draft however will see the return of one of the vital elite flooring generals in faculty hoops, Paige Bueckers. The pairing already has followers in Storrs excited for the longer term. Sturdy is able to deliver that very same vitality.
“We’re simply making an attempt to win,” she says. “They haven’t gained a championship shortly, in order that’s the plan for the subsequent 4 years. I’m simply very excited to play with all people and be coached by the teaching employees.”
Portraits by Luke Schlaifer.
