Freshman Madison Karam has been playing basketball for nine years, following in her brother’s footsteps. 

“My brother played and I would just look up to him like that,” Karam said. “And so I just kind of followed what he did.”

Karam has played many different sports throughout her life aside from basketball including volleyball, tennis, tumbling, and soccer. But now she only plays basketball, a sport she is very committed to.

In addition to playing basketball for La Salle in the wintertime — as the point guard for the junior varsity team — she also plays club basketball in the spring and summer time. 

Karam said what she likes most about this position is helping her teammates. In this position, which is sometimes interchangeable with another person, she is able to set up a play and give her teammates points. 

Although she is familiar with this position, she said it isn’t always an easy one to play. 

“You have to lead, which is a little scary at times,” Karam said.

Despite also being left handed, Karam likes to do everything in basketball — minus shooting — with her right hand, having noticed how her coaches always demonstrated their examples with their right hands.

In Karam’s free time, she enjoys doing art, more specifically painting. 

“I like painting a lot, I’ll go with my friends and we’ll paint or [I’ll paint] with my cousins,” she said. 

During basketball season, life can get very busy for Karam, a challenge she has had to overcome. With having to balance family, basketball, and school, Karam said that “it’s tricky, but once you start to get the hang of it it becomes your life.” 

Something that helps Karam balance school and basketball is planning out her day.

 “I just like to plan what I do and know what times I practice and organize time for when I need to do my homework, because that’s obviously what needs to get done first,” she said.

For motivation, Karam looks up to her cousin who plays college basketball. 

“If I work I could get up to her level,” Karam said. “It’d be fun to play in college.” 

Karam finds that the best things about basketball are meeting new people and making jokes and memories with one another. Due to this, Karam believes that the team dynamic is great.

Someone that inspires Karam is her mom, because of the way she motivates her.

“I feel like she’s just a super strong person and she always motivates me to keep going,” she said. “She just motivates me to still go and just play at my best and I just look up to her for that.”