by By Dale Pine, Jr. (Oglala-Lakota) Lakota Hoops Founder
In an ever-growing sports industry, one young Oglala Sioux Tribe member from Martin, S.D., is hoping to empower local youth to pursue their dreams by following her own. Brooke Bair, a recent 2016 graduate of Dakota Wesleyan University (DWU), was an active student-athlete in both high school and college. At Bennett County High School, she was a four sport letterwinner and a repeat all conference selection in basketball and volleyball. She went on to college and participated on the DWU softball team as a freshman before making the switch to basketball for her sophomore and junior years. Wanting to gain more experience in the sports field, she opted to serve as a student assistant for the women’s basketball team during her senior year.
With Brooke assisting, the Tigers finished with a 27-9 record and made it to the NAIA National Tournament’s quarterfinals, where they lost a tough game to Goshen, IN. As a team, the Tigers set numerous records in 2015-16 and had the third most wins for a season in program history. “I was the only senior on the team and had a great role of helping coach our national tournament team. Being an assistant coach this (past) season and helping the team develop for the past couple years will really help me in the sporting industry in the future,” said Bair.
As a Sports Management and Business major at DWU, Brooke did an internship with the National Basketball League of Canada (NBLC) and has helped recruit many players to the league over the past two years. It was there she met colleague Carlos Knox, the player development coach for the WNBA’s Indiana Fever. Knox is also a coach for the Windsor Express in the NBLC and has offered Bair the opportunity to do a player development internship with the Indiana Fever.
She is currently the business manager for the Dakota Magic, a professional team located in Mitchell, S.D. The Magic are a team in the National Basketball League of America (NBLA), a league she is also helping to take off this fall. “We had one Showcase Game in ordinance of recruiting players to the league and currently have five other city teams to the league, which will get off the ground this fall. This league falls right into my field of study,” said Brooke.
With her foot in the door, the future looks to be bright for Bair, who recently attended a Sales Academy hosted by the Cavaliers (NBA) and Browns (NFL), professional teams in Cleveland. She left with job offers to work for either team, but is holding off on that in order to focus on her current position and field specialization. “I gotta do my best to fulfill my goals. There are too many kids around here that are giving up on their dreams too quickly. That’s why I want to be the best I can be in sports,” added Brooke.
(Note: I had the opportunity to learn about Brooke when I coached against DWU when I was the head coach at Oglala Lakota College. Coach Christensen, the DWU head women’s coach had a lot of good things to say and I thought her story was a very intriguing one!)
