Tayra Melendez ’12 Named to Puerto Rican U-18 Basketball Team!
One week ago, Tayra Melendez ’12 was just having a normal day at the end of a long school-year. She scarcely could have imagined that, 48 hours later, she would be on a flight bound for Puerto Rico to try out for the country’s Under-18 girls’ basketball team.
One week ago, Tayra Melendez ’12 was just having a normal day at the end of a long school-year. She scarcely could have imagined that, 48 hours later, she would be on a flight bound for Puerto Rico to try out for the country’s Under-18 girls’ basketball team. After three strenuous days competing against a bevy of non-English-speaking Puerto Rican players, she learned that she had made the cut. “It all happened so suddenly,” Melendez says of the process. “But I’m really excited to be doing something new and different like this!”
Melendez was one of just four basketball players in the U.S. to be named to Puerto Rico’s team for the 2010 FIBA Americas Under-18 Championship for Women, taking place June 23 to 27 in Colorado Springs. The daughter of a horse jockey who moved to the States 20 years ago to take a job at Suffolk Downs, Melendez had long dreamed of representing Puerto Rico on the international stage. It was fate, then, when Rivers coach Bob Pipe saw an article in The Chicago Tribune earlier this month about a student who played for the P.R. team. Within hours of emailing the Tribune writer to get more information, Pipe was in contact with the national team’s coach, whom he convinced to fly Melendez down to Puerto Rico for try-outs.
One of the youngest players on the 12-person P.R. team, the 16-year-old Melendez would be forgiven for feeling a bit intimidated, but she has remained confident throughout the experience. And why not? Her basketball accomplishments to date speak for themselves: last year she averaged 14 points and 7 rebounds a game at Rivers, earning a spot on the New England All-Star team and All-Independent School League team. Pipe says that she had already piqued interest from several Division I college basketball programs as a sophomore. “She’s a phenomenal presence on the court,” he says.
On the national team, of course, every player is a star, which means that standing out takes extra dedication and hard work. “It’s all about making cuts that other girls wouldn’t make, and being aggressive,” Melendez says. “Everyone here is talented, so you have to step it up.”
Melendez has been staying with her grandma in Puerto Rico during training, and has loved being able to embrace her cultural roots and make her family proud. If the team finishes in the top four of eight teams next week, she will continue practicing in Puerto Rico through July to prepare for the 2011 FIBA U19 World Championship for Women in Chile. “It hasn’t really sunk in yet that this is all happening,” she says with a laugh. “Right now, I’m just enjoying myself and feeling honored to play for my country.”
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Melendez was one of just four basketball players in the U.S. to be named to Puerto Rico’s team for the 2010 FIBA Americas Under-18 Championship for Women, taking place June 23 to 27 in Colorado Springs. The daughter of a horse jockey who moved to the States 20 years ago to take a job at Suffolk Downs, Melendez had long dreamed of representing Puerto Rico on the international stage. It was fate, then, when Rivers coach Bob Pipe saw an article in The Chicago Tribune earlier this month about a student who played for the P.R. team. Within hours of emailing the Tribune writer to get more information, Pipe was in contact with the national team’s coach, whom he convinced to fly Melendez down to Puerto Rico for try-outs.
One of the youngest players on the 12-person P.R. team, the 16-year-old Melendez would be forgiven for feeling a bit intimidated, but she has remained confident throughout the experience. And why not? Her basketball accomplishments to date speak for themselves: last year she averaged 14 points and 7 rebounds a game at Rivers, earning a spot on the New England All-Star team and All-Independent School League team. Pipe says that she had already piqued interest from several Division I college basketball programs as a sophomore. “She’s a phenomenal presence on the court,” he says.
On the national team, of course, every player is a star, which means that standing out takes extra dedication and hard work. “It’s all about making cuts that other girls wouldn’t make, and being aggressive,” Melendez says. “Everyone here is talented, so you have to step it up.”
Melendez has been staying with her grandma in Puerto Rico during training, and has loved being able to embrace her cultural roots and make her family proud. If the team finishes in the top four of eight teams next week, she will continue practicing in Puerto Rico through July to prepare for the 2011 FIBA U19 World Championship for Women in Chile. “It hasn’t really sunk in yet that this is all happening,” she says with a laugh. “Right now, I’m just enjoying myself and feeling honored to play for my country.”
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