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 decide, 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 so much,” 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 crew as mother—however it wasn’t till she moved to the USA in fifth grade that she began taking her sport to the following stage given the extent of competitors.
“The expertise stage and talent stage is so much totally different right here, so positively it’s a bit 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 cope with the transition that comes with shifting from a distinct nation, whether or not it was cultural changes—in Spain, she would watch numerous American motion pictures and was nervous about having to cope with bullies at school 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 great 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 simple expertise with an all-around sport—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 easy 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 Faculty (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 closing determination, the ultimate issue had nothing to do with location, she says, however reasonably, what she felt inside. “It’s all the time been a dream college,” she says. “I simply sort of felt it in my coronary heart, and I talked to my household. I prayed about it.”
At UConn, Sturdy needs to raise her sport and get “accustomed to the faculty tempo” and the extent of physicality—from getting in form to changing into extra environment friendly and a constant shooter. She’s set to affix a Huskies squad that simply misplaced standout Aaliyah Edwards to the 2024 WNBA Draft however will see the return of one of the elite ground generals in faculty hoops, Paige Bueckers. The pairing already has followers in Storrs excited for the long run. Sturdy is able to carry 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 following 4 years. I’m simply very excited to play with everyone and be coached by the teaching employees.”
Portraits by Luke Schlaifer.
