by By Dan Ninham (Oneida)
Ava Battese competed on the Cameron University Women’s basketball team in the Lone Star Conference for the past four years.
“My tribe is Prairie Band Potawatomi and Comanche,” said Ava Battese. “My native name is Wisakwe which means ‘the color of lightning.’ My parent’s are Angela Battese and Brian Frejo and we live in Elgin, Oklahoma.
Ava was a three-year varsity letter-winner at Elgin HS (OK) and during her senior season the Elgin Owls reached the Class 4A State Tournament. The team also reached the state semi-finals during the 2014-15 season.
Ava began playing for the Cameron University Aggies during the 2016-17 season. She started the beginning of a steady climb to be one of the elite college three-point scorers as a freshman. She led the team with 2.2 made three-pointers per game and made 53 total for the season.
“I finished my senior season this year and will be graduating in May of 2020,” said Ava. “During my senior year, I joined the 1,000 point club and finished with 1,233 points. I currently hold Cameron University women’s basketball three-point field goal record (322), in-game record (10), and in-season record (101). I also broke the Lone Star Conference Record for made three’s per game and led the nation in D2WBB with 4.26 made three’s per game during my senior season. I was named All Lone Star Conference Second Team and was Honorable Mention as a junior.”
During her senior season, Ava had 17 double-figure scoring games and seven with 20-plus points, including a career-best 31 points against Texas A&M International.
“I definitely pride myself on being a native student-athlete and it is something that I don’t take advantage of,” said Ava. “My hard work, determination, and resilience are what defined me as an athlete. Being native, it is sometimes hard to get the same exposure, so I knew I would have to work hard in order to make a name for myself. My ancestors were strong and resilient and battled through a lot of hardships, so knowing that, I am able to rise above and realize that my strength can conquer anything. Being native is a blessing, we are more than what people think, and we always have been.”
“A couple people who have positively influenced me as a competitive athlete were my coaches in high school,” said Ava. “Brad Crace was my coach when I was a sophomore and junior. He was definitely influential in me becoming a more competitive player. He really focused on teaching us to have grit and to compete to the best of our abilities and that is something that has definitely stuck with me since then.”
“When I first arrived at Elgin for our first summer basketball season I knew we had some very talented post players and two guards with lots of experience,” said Brad Crace, Elgin HS girl’s basketball coach during Ava’s sophomore and junior seasons. “We had essentially four returning starters but beyond that it was certainly a question mark and quite honestly it was a question mark after that summer. Ava started a few games that summer and I saw something in her that I liked. A joy and love for the game and she wanted to compete and win like no other kid I coached but had a long way to go skill-wise. When she got back to campus when school started and we got back into the gym, I was amazed at how much she improved in eight weeks. I’ve never had a kid in my career improve at the rate she did. Never. She became that fifth starter.”
“Ava was honestly the reason we made two state tournaments in a row and the 4A state semi-finals her junior season,” said Brad.
“She was an exceptional student in the classroom and a great leader,” said Brad. “Made good decisions in her personal life, dependable, loyal and she always gave me her best effort on a daily basis. I consider her and her mother Angela as family.”
“Ava continued to improve until the day I left and you can obviously tell with the career she had at Cameron that she improved every year of her career,” said Brad.
“Our summer and in-season weightlifting program we called ‘the breakfast club’,” said Brad. “We called it that because we started at 6 am in the morning. It consisted of flipping tires, hitting tires with sledgehammers, and throwing tires. It was brutal! Ava never missed a day. She was the only one I can say that about. She also never missed a practice.”
“She is the role model any young basketball player should follow, particularly a young Native American girl who is looking for a blueprint to be a good player. She is what you get when you just out work everyone, make great decisions and have a desire to compete beyond anyone’s expectations,” said Brad.
“During my senior year, I was coached by Miles Thompson and that was the year where I think I gained a lot of my confidence,” said Ava. “Coach Thompson gave me a lot of free range when it came to playing and that made it a lot more fun. He also came up with our mantra that year that emphasized the team mentality rather than individuality.”
“Ava was a great leader!” said Miles Thompson, former Elgin HS coach during her senior year. “The silent assassin. Never boasted or bragged just let her play do the talking. She wanted to be the best and not only was our best player but was also the hardest worker. This made for great team chemistry that led to a 24-win season and a state tournament appearance. She went to the state tournament all four years of her high school career. This is an amazing accomplishment. Ava was always there to get extra work in. She was always there for her teammates and a great friend and teammate. When we lost in Regional’s that year her dad came and did a cedar smoke ritual and blessed our team. It was an amazing experience.”
Emma Andrews was the head coach of Cameron University for Ava’s tenure with the team. “She was definitely someone who was willing to help me with anything on the court and off the court. She shaped me into the player I am today and taught me things that will last a lifetime. I appreciate her holding me accountable and pushing me to be the best I can be.”
“Ava has grown so much over the last four years,” said Emma Andrews, Cameron University Women’s Basketball Head Coach. “Not only is she an amazing athlete, but also an amazing role model and mentor to those who follow behind her. She leads by example and exemplifies what servant leadership really means.”
The four components of being holistically well not only as a college student-athlete but as a human being are physical, mental, spiritual, and emotional. A balance needs to be sought after to perform at an optimum level. Ava commented on the four components.
Physical: “When it comes to physical training I definitely focus a lot on range of motion exercises and lifting. The physical training aspect comes with being a college athlete and during the season I would be lifting 2 to 3 times a week with our strength and conditioning coach. We are usually put through different programs depending on where we are during the season. Some weeks we would focus on lifting heavy to gain or maintain muscle and then the next few weeks it would be a little more slow paced so we wouldn’t get burned out.”
Mental: “Some knowledge areas I would like to improve on with my sport is the coaching side of basketball. I would like to become a basketball coach in the future, so learning about everything that comes with coaching is definitely something I need to improve on.”
Spiritual: “I connect my spirituality with my sport based on the fact that I wouldn’t be where I am without God. Before every game, I say a prayer during the national anthem and thank Him for giving me the ability to play basketball. I know that I am very blessed, which is why I am so thankful every time I get to play and that I have gotten to play for the last four years.”
Emotional: “Some mental toughness strategies I use in stressful game situations is to not let my mind or negative thoughts get in the way. I always remind myself that there is a next play, so if something goes wrong or the ball turns over I think, “Next play.” Next play I have the opportunity to make the possession better and do what I can and I think that that has helped me. I’m also a shooting guard, so when I miss a couple three’s in a row I try not to be so hard on myself. I always say or my teammates say, ‘the next one is going in.’ That is definitely true for shooters, sometimes we miss a couple and then go on a spree where we hit the next five in a row.”
“I am staying well during this pandemic by staying home and social distancing,” said Ava. “I’ve just been doing homework, watching movies, and riding around on my skateboard. Sometimes it can get a little boring being at home, but hopefully by staying inside we can get rid of the virus and enjoy our daily life activities again.”
“I started my basketball career in fifth grade where I was an alternate and played in only one game the whole season,” said Ava. “One time I went in the game for exactly 30 seconds. I don’t know how or why I continued to stick with this game, but I have worked very hard to get to where I’m at right now. By the grace of God, and hard work, I believe that I was able to achieve everything in my path. Any award or anything that I have accomplished in my career thus far has been earned.”
“I want other little native girls like me, who were told that they would never make it, to know that they can truly do things out of the ordinary if they believe they can,” said Ava.
Photo Credit: Mike Mazzo
