Florencia Arciniega '21 Recruiting Profile

My name is Florencia Arciniega Lopez, I'm 17 years old and I've been playing basketball since I was 9. Everything began when a friend invited me to join the school's basketball team. Honestly, I just considered it because I wanted to hang out after school, not because I was interested. However, things changed after a year of training. For my first couple of years, I was the only one in the team committed to assist to all training sessions as well as games. As a result of my dedication and discipline, at 12 years old my coach suggested I should train with the senior team. The level of intensity and demand was much higher than I was used to, but I can say that my passion surpassed my shyness. I trained for two days with my team and the other two with the senior team. I also got to play two games in a day. This was a big step for me. At 13 years old, I became the captain of my team. My coach, who was a professional women’s basketball player, trained me and the senior captain for leadership skills after practice. Since then, I’ve been captain of my category team. 

When I was 15 years old, I got recruited to play with my state's professional basketball team, I was one of the youngest. Demands here were higher than I had ever experienced. I honestly loved it. I had a mindset, which was improving my basketball skills no matter how hard it could be. Unfortunately, I had a serious knee injury and I had to stop playing for about 7 to 8 months. The next year, I came back. I became the leader of my team once again. This same year, we won 3rd place in a tournament, and our statistics were improving more than before, including my own game expectations. I believe that my enthusiasm to be able to play again really favored my training and skills. For this year’s season, I'm practicing more than the expected time. All this to keep improving. I strongly believe there are no limits for learning, there is always something new to learn or improve. Now that I am almost done with high school I hope next year I can do tryouts for my same professional team, knowing that I will be an adult, following the chance to join a varsity basketball women’s team in the U.S after I graduate.