This summer, Point Loma Nazarene University’s own Maddie Morrow, a fourth-year media communication major on the women’s basketball team, was given the opportunity to represent her home country of New Zealand in the U23 Youth Nations League. Morrow competed from August 17 to August 23 in Selangor, Malaysia.
The Youth Nations League offered a unique style of play and Morrow explained how different it is from typical basketball games she plays.
“Rather than five on five and full court like a standard basketball game, it’s half court … and you’re just playing with three,” Morrow said. “The games are 12 minutes long, so you either play for 12 minutes or it’s first to 21. Three-pointers are worth two points, and layups are worth one rather than two.”
Head coach of PLNU’s women’s basketball team, Carlotta Kloppenburg-Pruitt, said she has gotten to see how much Morrow has grown.
“It was fun to watch it back and see her and her team grow throughout the tournament,” Kloppenburg-Pruitt said. “Three-on-three is a different game, and I think she learned a lot just through her experience being there.”
Kloppenburg-Pruitt added that Morrow’s hard work and personality had a lot to do with her opportunity to play in the Youth Nations League.
“Having Mo represent her country in the Youth Nations League is a huge honor and accomplishment,” Kloppenburg-Pruitt said. “I think it’s a great example of what hard work can do, as well as just being a great person and teammate.”
To be chosen in the Youth Nations League, a player must be able to exhibit enough skill and dedication to be considered by the USA Basketball three-versus-three Junior National Team Committee. With a wide range of countries coming together to play, including Taipei, the Philippines, New Zealand and more, the players on these teams are up against the best of the other countries’ players.
“She busted her butt to get where she is, and so it was like a reward; it wasn’t just something where they just chose random people,” Cassidy Bartoloto, a third-year business marketing major and one of Morrow’s teammates, said. “She deserved to be there; she earned her spot … she earned the right to represent where she’s from.”
The hard work both her coach and her teammate noticed led her to be able to represent her home country of New Zealand.
“Representing alongside New Zealanders and just feeling such pride for my country meant so much to me,” Morrow said. “Being so far away from home, it meant more.”
Morrow has been in California since she started college at 18, and this was the first summer she didn’t spend back home in New Zealand. Because of this, Morrow said the opportunity to play for New Zealand was even more special.
Morrow got to compete in the Youth Nations League this year, but the time she put in began long before that. And it wasn’t just a three-versus-three tournament. With hard work and dedication, Morrow was given the opportunity to represent her country, playing her sport on the international stage for millions to see, as both a Loman and a Kiwi.
