How I Got Here: Arianna McCleod ’25

This freshman hoopster shoots and scores in her collegiate debut.

Words by David Pavlak

This freshman hoopster shoots and scores in her collegiate debut.

My older brother and I used to play basketball in our backyard. I remember shooting around with him all day and falling in love with the game. We were very competitive. My mom had to run outside and break us up.

By sixth grade, I played basketball all year. I was mainly a point guard and then in high school I developed more muscle — my body and skillset grew into the guard position. I like the freedom that comes with being a guard. You can move around more and the point guard can find you as the play develops.

Transitioning from high school to college basketball was harder than I thought it would be, especially getting used to the pace. The women’s basketball team is competitive and we play fast — that’s one of our strengths. Figuring out that speed and finding my role on the team was something that took some time.

I didn’t play in the season opener so my first game at TCNJ was against SUNY New Paltz. I was nervous. I scored 15 points and had five rebounds. It was a game I needed — my confidence was boosted.

After I scored my first points, it was like a spark caught fire. I was in the zone and nothing was going to take me out of it. I was playing like I knew I could.

I’m part of the EOF program, and a journalism graduate who writes for Cosmopolitan spoke to us over Zoom. The talk was so interesting it inspired me to switch from my original major of marketing to journalism.

Growing up, I have good memories of Sunday dinners with my family and watching the New York Giants. I’d love to write about sports because having those kinds of memories attached to a future job would be pretty cool.

Picture: Bill Cardoni