This week I sat down with the women's basketball team's starting point guard, Nicola Zimmer '14, to discuss the young team and some of the challenges and highlights of the season.
When did you first start playing basketball?
NZ: I pretty much always played basketball. At least since I was five, but probably earlier. My parents said that I always just kind of took to it. There were basketballs around the house, and I would always play with them, so I think it just naturally happened.
How you end up coming to Dartmouth?
NZ: I wanted to make sure I went to a school that had a good mix of academics and sports. The rural thing was a little different, but there's a tight community here. Coaches were dedicated and had high standards, and I liked the girls on the team.
What do you like best about being the point guard?
NZ: As point guard, I'm in control of the ball most of the time. I like being in control of the ball and having the ability to make or break possessions. You have to be a leader and kind of be the coach on the floor. It's something that I've always felt natural doing. I also really like setting people up. It's a great feeling to help your teammates score with an assist.
The team is fairly young this year. What are the advantages and challenges of that?
NZ: We're definitely a very young team. We have five freshmen on a 10-person team, and two of our freshmen have been starting the whole year. College-level basketball is different from high school, so adjusting to the speed of the game is different. Also, most freshmen aren't used to the back-to-back Friday and Saturday games that we play in the Ivy League. We all make mistakes and learn from them, so the more we play, the better we get. Next year should be really exciting because we have nine of our 10 players returning, and we'll be much more comfortable playing together next year. With such a young team, it's enabled me to step up as a leader as a sophomore. It's a big responsibility to take on, but I enjoy helping out the freshmen and think we'll be ready to go next year.
The new basketball suite at Leede Arena seems pretty nice. How has the team enjoyed it?
NZ: The new suite is really nice. We have a team room with leather couches and a big flat-screen TV for watching film. We're really grateful, and I think it motivates us to work hard and repay what we received. I think it'll help out in our recruiting, and we're just really happy to have it.
The team has struggled a bit this year but won both games this past weekend. What do you think led to that?
NZ: It's been pretty frustrating all year, as we haven't done nearly as well as we would have liked. This weekend all our frustration came out on the court and we played as a team, something we've been doing in segments all year. We were the aggressor and took it to the other team first, especially in the Columbia game. We lost our first game to Brown, but in our second game, we took them down. I think that was due to our bigs being really solid and dominating inside. Our defense was solid in second Brown game as well.
The team finishes the season at Harvard University on Tuesday. What's next?
NZ: We have spring break off, but then we start spring workouts right when we get back, which include four 6 a.m. workouts a week. We do a lot of skill work in the offseason because that's something that we can't really do during the season. The off season also focuses a lot on lifting and we play a lot of pickup ball.
What's something people would be surprised to learn about you?
NZ: I'm loud on the court but pretty quiet in real life. I'm always the one with a book on team trips.