Fairland’s Calli Moncada
By Ivy Knapp
Ever since first grade, basketball has been a big part of Calli Moncada’s life. She grew up watching high school games with her family and fell in love with the sport. Watching high school basketball gave her the motivation to start playing herself, and she’s been playing ever since.
Now in a leadership role on her team, Calli describes her teammates as a group full of strength and determination.
“We work hard, and we work together,” she said. “We all want to accomplish our goals, no matter how tough it gets.”
With only a few upperclassmen on the team, Calli has taken on the role of helping the younger girls, being someone they can look up to and get support from. Practices for Calli and her teammates are always pretty vigorous. There is lots of shooting, defensive drills, offensive plays, and running.
“We’re always working hard and doing our best to get better,” she said.
When it comes to close games, Calli keeps calm by staying focused.
“I talk to myself through the plays and focus on what’s next. I try to block out everything else but my coaches and teammates.”
Her biggest goal this season is to have fun and make memories with her teammates while striving to be her best.
“A lot of people think we won’t be as good as past years, so I want to show them what we can really do,” Calli said.
Balancing basketball and school can be challenging, but Calli’s learned how to stay on top of things pretty well. She makes it a point to finish one or two college assignments each day and studies with friends who help keep her stay accountable. Anatomy and physiology has been her toughest class so far, but she pushes through by studying early and gathering extra notes and bonus points when she can.
After high school, Calli plans to continue her basketball career in college and major somewhere in the medical field. She’s learned many lessons as a student athlete including this one.
“Just because something bad or unexpected happens doesn’t mean you give up. You’ve got to keep doing your part.”
