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.

Professional basketball athlete LaShayla Wright-Ponder checks in with us before taking off to start another season of pro basketball in Sweden. Along the way, she helped run basketball camps domestically with The Sanneh Foundation and abroad in Germany. While she was teaching the game of basketball to the next generation, she learned several lessons about herself that will stick with her no matter what her career looks like.

Nora Francois envisioned herself as a Division I basketball athlete the moment she took up the sport, but the quest to complete her mission brought a deluge of detours and dichotomies.

On one side, Nora was a rising bastion of versatility, becoming the first DeLaSalle player in school history to make varsity as an eighth grader. She later played a central role in DeLaSalle's state championship run in 2019. On the other side, Nora encountered a series of mental health battles and traumatic moments that chipped away at her morale, leading her to transfer schools several times as a junior and senior.

Refusing to let go of her basketball dream, Nora enrolled at North Iowa Area in her college freshman season, which led to a spot in the Southland Conference at New Orleans the following year. Her numbers were modest, but she did earn the first double-double of her collegiate career. Nora sees basketball as a tool to build her career ambitions, and she discusses all the tools that strengthened her resolve with basketball and mental health.

Versatility sums up Lauren Stenman succinctly. At North St. Paul, she embraced whatever role was needed, and she played a big role as a member of the first North St. Paul volleyball team to reach the state tournament and win a medal, taking bronze. At Lewis, Lauren's responsibilities were more defined as the primary setter, a task she has mastered over the last two seasons as Lewis won back-to-back GLVC conference tournament titles. Lauren would love to make it three in a row as she embarks on her final college season, but no matter what happens, the two-time All-GLVC First Team honoree remains steadfast in her mission to grow as an athlete and as a citizen every day.

In this interview, we detail Lauren's odyssey of growth, how the COVID phase led to a stronger spiritual connection, and her voracious fascination with books.

In her 51 years, Onika Craven has done a little bit of everything. You may remember her as a player at Minneapolis Washburn, Rainy River or Minnesota-Morris. You might have seen her running community outreach events as CEO and co-founder of the non-profit organization O'nika's Angels. You may also have seen her covering all sorts of sports with the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder. All of those pieces played a part in Onika being selected to the Rainy River Hall of Fame 2023 class. Her distinction is both a validation of her efforts to make a positive impact wherever she goes and a reminder that you can be recognized for things other than sports. Onika shares it all with us in this episode!

Sierre Lumpkin went out with flair in her senior year at Benilde-St. Margaret's, earning a silver medal in the Class AAA state volleyball tournament and gold in the Class AAA girls basketball state tournament. Getting to that point was, in her words, "a jamble." Sierre reflects on an adventure of growing up as the daughter of an NFL veteran, starting her varsity career in Edina, enduring a mental health scare, and the numerous steps she traversed before committing to play Division I basketball at Loyola Marymount.