Issue link: http://www.wacmagazine.com/i/62711
E arlier this year, WAC women's basketball player Jamie Van Horne spent two weeks helping humanitarian efforts in Rwanda. While there, she worked with an all-girls school and visited sustainable gardens created to alleviate childhood malnutrition. It's important work, the kind that brings improvement to some of the world's most- devastated places. Rwanda is "a beautiful place filled with wonderful people," Jamie says about a month after her return, sipping coffee in downtown Seattle and looking back. group of women," says coach Syesha Thomas, who also plays guard on the team. "Having such high- quality and high-character individuals really makes my job easy." Three summers ago, "They're an amazing Syesha made her own philanthropic journey to Africa, leading a basketball leadership camp for girls in Nigeria. She expected 60 kids to turn up. When a couple hundred did instead, she was stunned. "We had all those kids and one court with two hoops," Sarah McDevitt takes aim. she recalls. Jamie Van Horne visits SeeYourImpact beneficiaries in Rwanda. Her trip and her work in the nonprofit arena exemplify the character and diverse experiences of members of the WAC women's basketball team, which this month competes in the NACAD national basketball tournament. to help youth grow into leaders," she says. "I definitely want it to be a continual process." Another member of the WAC women's team, Lindsey Wilson, has done her own share of international travel, having spent the better part of a decade bouncing around Europe and the Middle East in pursuit of the game she loves. When she returned to Seattle last year, she dedicated herself full time to Positive Performance Consulting, a company she started in 2009. The company works to help athletes and coaches heighten performance through mental training. Long-term, she hopes to return regularly for similar camps. "The idea is to help student-athletes and coaches use basketball JILL BELL PLAYED AT UW AFTER WINNING FOUR CONSECUTIVE KINGCO CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIPS WITH BELLEVUE HIGH SCHOOL • haS Played iN madrid, BARCELONA AND BUENOS AIRES • SeekiNg SaleS or marketiNg Job • loveS travel aNd cookiNg • firSt Played for WAC WOMEN'S TEAM IN 2008. MIKAELA COWLES COURTNEY CLAPP loveS trivia NightS • PLAYED BASKETBALL AT KIRKLAND'S JUANITA HIGH SCHOOL AND AT WESTERN WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY • JoiNed Wac team iN JaNuary 2010 • WorkS FOR A LOCAL COMPANY DOING WEB DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT. PLAYED FOR SAINT MARY'S COLLEGE OF CALIFORNIA AFTER LAKESIDE HIGH SCHOOL • JoiNed Wac team thiS PaSt November • freelaNce WRITER AT MAKING LANGUAGE couNt • WriteS blog BAGUETTE TASTE—WONDER BREAD BUDGET. ENJOLI IZIDOR PAST MEMBER OF THE NigeriaN NatioNal team • Played at StaNford • led ROOSEVELT HIGH SCHOOL TO KINGCO CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP AS A SENIOR • Scored her StaNford CAREER HIGH, 22 POINTS, IN JANUARY 2001 AGAINST WaShiNgtoN State • haS PLAYED IN ISRAEL, GREECE, PORTUGAL, TURKEY, FRANCE AND CROATIA. 22 | Washington Athletic Club Magazine | APRIL 2012 BRIAN FRANCIS COURTESY JAMIE VAN HORNE STANFORD PHOTO