EUGENE — Greg Bell smiled and congratulated his daughter on a race well-ran. Then 11 years previous, younger Sofia stood on the monitor and stared at him with stoic confusion.
“Dad, why are you and everybody yelling at me whereas I’m operating?” she requested.
Greg laughed. “Sweetie, we’re simply attempting that will help you run quicker.”
Sofia regarded round, and with a stone-cold expression, requested: “What do you assume I’m attempting to do?”
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Sofia went to her first Oregon girls’s basketball recreation when she was 5, the final recreation at McArthur Court docket. She grew up in Portland watching Sabrina Ionescu put the Geese and girls’s school basketball on the map. And throughout Oregon, the prep hoops scene burst on the seams with Division I expertise.
Sofia made a reputation for herself on the AAU circuit, profitable a nationwide championship within the Nike EYBL. She was later named a McDonald’s All-American in 2023, starring for Jesuit Excessive Faculty, and is now in her sophomore 12 months taking part in for Kelly Graves at Oregon. Greg and spouse Claire had been on the sidelines every step of the best way, and nonetheless are — largely subdued however persistently encouraging.
“I didn’t need to play basketball once I was little,” Sofia mentioned with amusing. “I used to be actually into tennis and monitor. Ultimately, on the Northeast Group Middle in Portland, I had a coach named Coach Earl who inspired me to come back and work on the market. I began taking part in once I was 5 or 6.”
Greg — a former basketball participant himself at UO, now a motivational speaker and writer — remembers watching as coach Earl Cheney led an initially apprehensive Sofia into the gymnasium on the Northeast Group Middle in Portland. He noticed by the window as his daughter went by varied drills. An hour or two later, she instructed her dad she didn’t need to go away.
Ultimately, taking part in in a youth basketball league with largely boys, Greg mentioned a referee instructed younger Sofia to cease scoring a lot and provides the opposite children an opportunity. That lit a hearth beneath her.
“She’s a gritty child, so she’s going to present up even when it’s exhausting,” Greg mentioned. “That’s what I feel I love most about her, is she’s not a front-runner. When it’s time to go, she is prepared. I feel that’s a mirrored image of her mother.”
Whereas persistently motivated and aggressive, Sofia’s character is even-keel. Her father even described her as “sensible.” The inspiration of her success in sports activities comes from her personal dedication, Greg mentioned, however the best way he and Claire selected to guardian Sofia by athletics might have made a significant distinction.
“He positively gave me a whole lot of steering and nonetheless does,” Sofia mentioned of her dad. “He’s fairly constant together with his texts and his little stuff.”
Greg remembers seeing it on a regular basis, particularly at highschool and AAU video games however even on the youth degree: overbearing sports activities mother and father, screaming at referees and overwhelming their children with overly essential “recommendation” from the sidelines or after the sport.
Neither he nor Claire needed to be that guardian. It was about optimistic encouragement, he mentioned, and offering Sofia the area to determine issues out on her personal.
“Most children, I feel, the worst a part of sports activities is the trip dwelling,” Greg mentioned. “We didn’t need sports activities to be a adverse for her. She’s already going to be self-critical.”
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Sofia’s freshman 12 months at Oregon was lower brief after 21 video games as a consequence of a season-ending foot damage. By way of the method, she cut up her time between Eugene and Portland rehabbing and spending time with household. And whereas it was new territory for her, she didn’t let it turn into all-consuming.
“It was the primary time I’d really been injured or needed to miss a major period of time,” Sofia mentioned. “It was difficult, however positively a whole lot of development. The workers down right here is superior, too.”
It wasn’t Sofia’s first expertise with a protracted layoff, both: the pandemic in 2020 lower her and numerous different younger athletes off from aggressive sports activities for months. She spent days on finish on the park taking pictures round together with her dad.
These moments had been particular, Sofia mentioned. And so they offered an instance of a lesson Greg believes Sofia taught him on that monitor when she was 11 years previous: children in sports activities want area to be who they’re, and pursue their passions with out lurking, overbearing parental interference.
This comes from a former school athlete, who might have simply as simply pushed his daughter too exhausting within the path of his personal dream. However she ended up taking part in basketball for a similar college he did on her personal accord, and with a peaceful confidence.
“A lot of it’s simply having a robust relationship together with her,” Greg mentioned. “What’s the connection going to appear like when the ball stops bouncing? If I’m a jerk to her whereas we’re within the gymnasium, what’s that going to appear like in 5 years? 10 years?
“I shot all the hampers I’m going to shoot. So, you speak about legacy? It’s her legacy. Not mine.”
— Ryan Clarke covers the Oregon Geese and Massive Ten Convention. Hearken to the Geese Confidential podcast or subscribe to the Geese Roundup publication.
