by By Dan Ninham (Oneida)
Student athletes at the high school level may have opportunities to excel in more than one sport. Imani Ninham, sophomore at West De Pere HS, WI, has narrowed her winter seasonal focus to basketball but also plays golf and softball. She also ran track very well in middle school.
“I’m a member of the Oneida Nation of Oneida, WI,” said Imani. “My parents are Fawn Billie, Oneida/Navajo and Tim Ninham, Oneida. I have one sister, Camille. She’s a really cool artist who goes to The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Our family lives in De Pere, WI.”
Photo by D. King Images
Imani shared: “My core values I believe in are: 1. Family – Having the support from my family has made my basketball journey fun. They are there to encourage and motivate me. It makes me happy to see them at my games. My sister has been a great mentor to me. When there are struggles, I like that I can reach out to her or family for help for whatever we are going through, and that we are not alone. 2. Respect – I always learned to respect my elders however I believe to respect all others views and to encourage other younger kids to express themselves and don’t let others tell you, you can’t. You won’t know until you try. That goes for any goal you have in life. 3. Work Ethic – I believe to compete at a high level of basketball, you have to have a great work ethic. Being able to put in extra time in the gym besides regular practice. My parents have helped me to work with personal trainers like strength and conditioning and shooting coaches during the off-season. Wait! There is no off-season! That’s what my mom says. My high school coach and AAU coach have been great to me and push me to become a leader on the court. 4. Community – Our family has always been active in the community and I’ve only heard stories of my great-grandfather Sonny King, who started the recreation program in Oneida. That’s where my family grew up … in the gym and on the baseball field. I want to be a role model for younger kids in the community and hope to make it a better place for them.”
“Someone that had positively influenced me as a student-athlete is my mom,” said Imani. “She has been my coach through my younger years before high school. I started playing basketball when I was four years old when my mom volunteered at the YMCA for their basketball program. My mom also played basketball and some college ball in her younger years, coached other teams and has since given advice but most importantly is there for me. During challenging times, she might just look at me and let me figure it out. I know my mom is a hard working woman who does a lot for our family, many sacrifices and at the same time pushes me to become a better athlete and student in general. She’s always checking my grades!”
Mom Fawn Billie said: “Imani has come a long way to where she is today. I tell her if you want to be great, there is no off-season. I’ve learned as a parent to give the resources she needs to play at a competitive level and that’s at the AAU level. This is where she is able to play with others with the same skill set or better. This has helped her become a better player every year. She’s also worked with personal trainers to improve her game. Her athleticism and court awareness is what makes her a great teammate to have on the court. As a sophomore, her second year on the varsity team is making a statement as she has taken a leadership role this year of being in the starting line-up. That was one of her goals over the summer and I know how hard she worked and it makes me happy that she is having fun taking on that responsibility.”
“One thing that sticks out to me is people who know me, say she will break my records. My response is, I hope she does. She is better than me at that age and works hard for her time on the court (she’s going to love me for finally saying this)! All I can say that parents who are raising high level athletes, being there for them is key. Without support they will be missing something in their heart. They need you in their corner and to let them fly on their own. I hope she gets to where she wants to go and be in life. I want to be there to support her dreams,” added Fawn.
Fawn Billie was a star varsity basketball player her senior year at West De Pere HS. She was recruited to and played one year at the University of Minnesota-Duluth. She had a serious knee injury and was medically redshirted. She came home and didn’t return. Fawn transferred to UWGB a few years later. “I was very thankful of the late Scott Murray who got me out to see schools after high school,” said Fawn. “He was the one who promoted me to get looks by other schools like UW Parkside and Carthage. This was something I didn’t know anything about: post secondary school. No one ever talked about it or taught me what college was or how to live on my own. It was challenging but glad I was able to finish. I want to use my experience to show them and explore what’s out there, and take them to visit schools and camps.”
Dad Timothy D. Ninham played basketball after high school at Eastern Wyoming College. He knows the in’s and out’s of what it takes to play basketball at the next level by focusing on the level student athletes are at now in the present. “Being able to share my experiences of playing basketball and telling her the sacrifices that are needed by the team,’ said dad Tim. “That’s what coaches will remember, the extra work you put in on the court. It could be an extra pick, boxing out, taking a charge or diving on the floor to save a ball. These were some examples of how I made the team because not everyone would want to go that extra step. I’ve seen Imani improve the most since playing varsity is her self-confidence. Being able to take on that role as a freshman says a lot. She’s in the forefront and not afraid. She’s been like that since she could dribble a ball but now she’s able to take it to a high competitive level. I do admire that she loves the game and she has fun playing ball. I will always support her in all that she does.”
“She is a good player that works to get better,” said Chris Abaray, head girl’s basketball coach, West De Pere HS. “She wants to. But more importantly, she’s a great kid! We are currently 2-2. We lost our first two games to very good opponents. We load up our non-conference schedule as much as we can, as we feel that it’s the best way to prepare us for postseason play.”
“Imani was a swing player last year as a freshman between JV and Varsity,” said Coach Chris. “We really wanted her practicing daily with the best players in our program, as we saw the big picture potential in her being a key player for us moving forward.”
“Imani has led us in scoring twice in four games this year, including a career high 27 points in a win against a solid Ashwaubenon team. She has been our second leading scorer, averaging 17.2 points a game so far this year. She’s also averaging close to 8 rebounds per game as well. She is one of our best pure scorers and shooters. The nice thing is that we have an abundance of players to put the ball in hoop. We have four to five players that could lead us in scoring on any given night. That takes the pressure off of any one player to have to score big every single night. Nonetheless, Imani really has a knack for going on scoring streaks if she sees the ball go through the hoop a couple times,” added Coach Chris.
“She is extremely coachable and is becoming more vocal as a sophomore, among a team of mostly juniors and seniors,” said Coach Chris. “Imani definitely loves basketball and is a gym rat. It’s obvious because she shows up to the gym year round. She makes time to work on her game even when she is being a multi-sport athlete during golf and softball seasons. Many kids would stick to just the sport of the season they are currently in. Gym rats like Imani make time to work on their game because they love it.”
“We look forward to continue watching Imani grow as a player and person. We have the potential to do some big things as a basketball program at West De Pere the next few years. Imani will be a key player in working towards those goals,” added Coach Chris.
Big sister Camille Billie talked about Imani: “I don’t think Imani really realized she was a leader until our mom pointed it out and was like, ‘Hey, Imani you need to be a leader.’ And more so a role model because now she had younger basketball players looking up to her; the way Imani also looked up to other native women in the WNBA at the time like Shoni Schimmel. Except instead of becoming like Shoni, she’s becoming the new Imani Ninham. I think Imani spent so much time looking and moving forward that she never really stopped to see how far she’d come or see who had begun following her lead. Like I didn’t really tell her that she was a leader or make her aware of it. I think that was more our Mom’s part. But I mostly was her person that she’d pull into her room at random hours of the night and she’d unleash all of the questions that would otherwise keep her awake. I’m glad that I’m able to help her keep her mind more at ease so that she’s able to keep moving forward on her own path. We’ve seen each other as complete opposites most of our lives, but I think that’s what knits us more tightly together despite the sisterly fights lol. “
“As a spectator though, I see how her team moves for one another more when she takes charge. Like she’s the oil in the machine and court movement just became smoother and scores are made faster. Imani is growing into herself and right now I think she’s doing well for being a sophomore in high school and being the lead scorer for her varsity basketball team. If her game is off, her team still supports her and vise versa. I appreciate that she’s got a good bunch around her because I can’t always be there for her since I’m away for college and Facetime can only do so much.”
Higher skilled athletes transfer their work ethic and high performance sets to other sports and teams as well. “Imani is a solid player on both ends of the floor,” said Erin Barkley, Coach, Purple Aces AAU team. “You always know what you are going to get from her. Each and every year she has made strides in her game and has gotten better, this is in part of her love for the game and her tremendous work ethic. She is never satisfied and is always looking to get better. When other kids see this it becomes contagious.”
“Imani is a competitor,” said Charles Brehm, WDPHS varsity golf coach. “On the golf course she plays with a calm and level headed approach with a fire deep down inside to perform at her best. She approaches practice each day with the mindset to get better and improve. I have seen numerous instances where she is able to make minor adjustments to her swing either in practice or in matches and gets herself dialed in and hitting clean and accurate shots. Imani consistently leads by example on the golf course with her demeanor and mindset. She was 2nd team all conference this past season as a sophomore. At the end of the day whether Imani plays well or not up to her standards, she sees every practice and match as an opportunity to get better.”
“Something that has been challenging for me to talk about is that I’ve been diagnosed with Juvenile Myoclonic Epilepsy (JME) in February 2016 in seventh grade,” said Imani. “From what I was told, I collapsed at mid-court during practice and had a full-blown tonic-clonic (grand-mal) seizure. When I found out, I didn’t know at the time what was wrong with me and just wanted to be normal. It is scary because I don’t remember anything, just waking up in the hospital. What I learned is most of the time you can’t see the condition or see what is going on through my mind. There are times that I am tired, confused and just want to sleep. I currently take 12 pills a day to prevent tonic-clonic (grand-mal) seizures. That does help but I still struggle with partial-seizures and the side affects. I am very fortunate that my basketball family understands my condition and is there when I need them or if they see me struggling, they are there to help. I do my best to not let it bother me and don’t want this condition to stop me from playing the game I love.”
Imani Ninham continues to control what she can control to the best of her ability on and off the court for the West De Pere HS Phantoms. She has many believers in her corners to support her.
Photographs Credit: D.King Images
If you have questions or want to know more about seizures, here’s a link: https://www.cdc.gov/epilepsy/about/first-aid.htm
