"SACRIFICE TO BE GREAT" by Lizette Noyola

Photograph by RGV SPORTS

High School: Lopez Early College High School

School District: Brownsville ISD

Sports Played: Basketball

Class: 2024

My name is Lizette Noyola and I am from Brownsville, Texas. Sports became part of my life when I was about 10/11 years old. I would watch my cousins play basketball at family gatherings. The sport didn’t really interest me until I was a freshman. I would just play it for fun until the high school girls basketball team showed me how much they would sacrifice to be great. I wanted to get better at it for them, so I started doing unseen hours.

When I was a freshman we didn’t have a jv team so I was given the opportunity to play with varsity. I did not play a single game, but I started working hard and showing I really wanted to play. Hard work became easy work, and I was able to get through the drills smoothly.

As the years passed I realized not a lot of freshman’s get to play on a varsity team. They might be on the team, but getting minutes is tough. I wanted to quit multiple times because I didn’t see the point in practicing and not playing. Also, throughout my freshman basketball year I lost my grandma due to covid and I wasn’t able to process my feelings the right way. It was hard showing up to practice while wanting to quit, and having a family member pass away. At the end of it all, I still showed up and tried to do my best. For any athlete who considers quitting, don't do it. It is mentally draining, but it’s also an escape from things we don’t talk about. Keep showing up!

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My sophomore year, I was playing in an outside of school tournament, and I

was going up for a lay up and this girl from the other team pushed me from behind. I ended up twisting my ankle and got out of the game. I actually thought I broke my ankle because I saw my bone sticking out. I went to the doctor, and they told me I had a sprained ankle and hadn’t done anything for a month. My ankle got really bruised from both sides of my foot and I couldn’t really do anything. Any little movement would hurt. When I was finally able to get back to working on my skills, I was scared of getting a sprain again. I was being extra careful and didn’t really play how I used to play. I would roll it a couple of times in practice until I got an ankle brace. The brace was really supportive and I was able to play how I used to. Now my ankle is in good shape, but every time I jog it cracks.

Someone I look up to and really admire is a teammate I used to play with. Her name is Sophia Carrizales. It’s funny because I am a grade above her and older than her, so it wouldn’t make sense why I look up to her. When she was a freshman I was a sophomore. There was a senior on the team with the same name as her, so we gave her the nickname “carri “. Carri was really shy at first, she wouldn’t talk to anyone and was in her own world. Later on as the days passed, she started breaking out of her shell and started talking to the team. She and I built a really great bond. The reason why I look up to her and admire her is because she never fails to put on a show, no matter what she’s going through. Carri had some stomach problems and throughout the season she hurt her knee. This did not stop her from dropping 20 ppg. Besides basketball we would sometimes tell each other our problems and just hear each other out. She was more than just a teammate, she was a sister. She has set high goals for herself and I know she will accomplish all of them. Till this day she works extremely hard, and I will keep supporting her.

My senior year was filled with doubt. I had lost all confidence in myself. This really affected the way I played because I was scared of messing up. I would overthink it so much that I would actually mess up. It sucked because I had put in so much work during the summer to get an outcome I didn’t want. Everything I had set for myself didn’t go the way I had planned it because of lack of confidence.

Some advice I would give a high schooler is the coaches love seeing a

dedicated player work hard. My coach; Filliberto Reyna has given me lots of advice the 2 years he was coaching, but something that will always stick to me is him telling me “This is more than just basketball. It’s about life, about being disciplined.” This phrase used to be something I would joke around with him. I wouldn’t take it seriously, until I graduated. He has taught me that being disciplined helps you develop good habits and professional growth. He has taught me a lot and I will forever be grateful for every conversation we had no matter how the differences were.

“Embrace Doubt" to me means being open to uncertainty and questioning things rather than accepting them at face value. It encourages curiosity and critical thinking, allowing us to explore different perspectives and grow from the experience.

-Lizette Noyola/Embrace Doubt 7/19/2024

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