Karissa Stai '22 Recruiting Profile

Growing up, I was the one who wanted to play every single sport, despite the fact that I was the only girl on many of my teams. I have always been very competitive and being athletic has just become apart of who I am. I have been playing basketball since 5th grade, and ever since middle school it has become the one of my main sources of happiness and a huge part of my focus. I never truly realized how substantial every thing I was doing was to the continuation of my basketball career in college until much later than I would have liked. Regardless, I still want to work hard everyday and push myself to supersede all accomplishments that have once felt impossible to achieve, one being college ball.  One of my biggest strengths on the court is that I am very goal oriented and pick up quickly on things that may need to be changed of the top of my head which I would like to think makes me very coachable. I love to drive to the basket and make plays happen, but I am also good at realizing when I should dish a pass a create a better play for one of my team mates. Being on varsity all four years high school has given me a sense of closeness and trust with my team, which is evident on the court, as well as taught what it is to be a leader. Because of how much time I spend practicing or training, depending on the time of year, I have become very well with my time management and making sure that my academics come before anything else that I need to get done.  Given the opportunity to live out my dream and further better myself in my basketball career through college, I will give my all to prove that I am an asset to my team and that whomever gives me this chance has made the right decision.