If you heard of a three-sport athlete who plays football, basketball and track, Deborah Ayeni might not be the first name that comes to mind. The kicker? Deborah plays offensive and defensive line on the gridiron, emblematic of a student athlete who combines toughness and intellect.

Between the athletes Deborah watched growing up and her two older siblings, including an older brother who plays football at St. Thomas, inspiration was plentiful. In our conversation with a hopeful Division I basketball athlete, find out how Deborah makes all three sports work and how she aims to continue promoting the belief that Nigerian-American women can thrive in athletics.

Minneapolis was a girls basketball hotbed in the late 1990s. Minneapolis North had two Miss Basketball winners in Tamara Moore and Mauri Horton, and Minneapolis Washburn had a Golden Gophers recruit in Kim Bell, who was the tallest player in school history at the time of her signing. Bell's height (6'5", 6'7" on listed programs) was an asset on the court, but a source of nerves outside of it. Accepting her body type was one of several hurdles Bell encountered during her time as a player, but she had plenty of highlights too. With the likes of Lindsay Whalen, Janel McCarville and Corrin Von Wald as teammates, Bell finished her college career with an NCAA tournament appearance in 2002. Get ready for a trip through the basketball vault and hear what the sport gave Bell, from the friendships that still hold today to her work in public service.

As long as she can remember, Sade Pollard was the fastest kid on the block. Her blazing speed was noticed by a local track coach, launching a swift expedition that led to seven career gold medals in Minnesota state track competition. In one of those state trips, Sade earned enough points by herself to give Harding High School a bronze medal in the team standings. Years later, she would receive induction into the Harding Athletics Hall of Fame Sade's track career met an abrupt end following a scleroderma diagnosis, but that hasn't derailed Sade's next chapter as a coach and a mother of three sons who are aiming to stake their own claim in athletics. Get ready for a enlightening trip down memory lane.