Thursday, June 4, 2009 11:25 AM CDT
EIU's Baker stresses hard work, teamwork during camp visit
By SCOTT RICHEY, Staff Writer
CHARLESTON -- Several years ago, Marie Baker was sitting on a gym floor much like the floor at Baker Gymnasium, listening to an older basketball player talk about what it took to be a good player.
The roles were reversed Wednesday morning, as Baker was the guest speaker brought in to talk with the girls at the Lady Trojan Basketball Camp directed by Charleston High School coach Jeff Miller.
“I think it’s big,” Miller said of having Baker speak at the camp, “because they look at a girl that, not too many years ago, was sitting in their position as far as being an athlete coming into camp. Now she’s a Division I basketball player.”
Baker, a senior center on Eastern Illinois’ women’s basketball team, said when she was the girl at the basketball camp she thought to herself she could never be that big or in that position as a basketball player.
But hard work and a lifetime of enjoying the game of basketball put Baker in just that spot.
“Basketball became a very important part of my life,” Baker said. “I’ve been very lucky (to have played), but it’s because I’ve never stopped working and I’ve never stopped practicing.”
Those were two of the ideas Baker tried to impress upon the girls at the camp. She said working hard during practice, and more importantly, working as a team were two of the most important parts of basketball.
“No matter if you play 20 minutes or 20 seconds every member of the team is important,” Baker said. “You’re all working toward the same goal, so you work hard in practice and push each other in practice.”
In addition to working well within the team, Baker talked about how important individual improvement is, as well. That individual practice, she said, would be worth it when the improvements came out in the game.
“Come to practice early,” Baker told the campers. “I’m in the gym shooting every day, (and) I shoot 1,000 shots a day. Be the first one there and the last to leave.”
Hard work and teamwork could lead to basketball success, but that’s not all there is to the game. The single most important aspect of playing basketball, Baker said, is having fun.
“You can play basketball for the rest of your life,” she said. “Winning is fun, and playing together is fun. We were all happy just to win because we worked hard together in practice the day before.”
Baker said she hopes to continue with basketball after she finishes her career at Eastern Illinois but maybe more in the role of Eastern Illinois coach Brady Sallee, who spoke at the camp Monday. Baker plans to be a high school teacher and would like to coach basketball.
Until then, however, Baker has one season left with the Panthers, and she told the girls at the camp it could be the best season yet.
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