President of the newly founded women's club basketball team Astha Bernard, a sophomore in the School of Public Affairs, takes one last look into the stands before joining her team's huddle. Her eyes begin to water. She tries to fight the tears, but fails. It’s the first time since her senior year of high school playing competitive basketball.
Coming to American University in 2023, Bernard wanted to take her passion for basketball with her and decided joining the basketball club was her best option. She browsed the club sports portal, and to her surprise, the University had no women’s club basketball. Shortly after, she met Beatrice Berle, a sophomore in SPA and her co-president, who was also disappointed she couldn’t play basketball.
“Since our spring semester we were friends and we hung out quite often,” Bernard said. “We'd always just bring it up, and then we're like, ‘wait, why don't we just start one?’”
After a year of tedious paperwork and recruiting, Bernard, Berle and vice president Elizabeth Bauer, a sophomore in SPA, turned their shared dream into reality by founding AU's first women's club basketball team since the previous team dissolved in 2015. With a roster of 17 players, the club is not only showing up on the court but growing as a community, which Bernard views as a big win for women's sports.
In recent years women's basketball has grown exponentially, primarily due to WNBA star Caitlin Clark who Bernard looks up to and is one of the reasons she wanted to start the club.
“I think this is a perfect time to be playing and being involved,” Bernard said. “And so I was like okay I need to find a way to play. And I knew there was options of doing intramurals, but it just wasn't exactly what I wanted to do.”
With the goal of finally making an organized community where women could play basketball, Bernard and the other officers began their journey. The first step to grow their club was recruitment, which was done through open court time. Initially, there was not a lot of success as open court at American is a primarily male-dominated space. The officers were not discouraged, though, and decided to ramp up recruitment mainly through word of mouth and social media.
After getting a group of around 10 players, it was time for them to pitch their idea to school administration. Starting an athletics club at American is not easy. It first must get approved by the Department of Athletics and Recreation, and then the club members must manage scheduling, finances and participation.
The team first met with Garrett Schmidt, the assistant director of competitive sports, in September 2023. Garrett initially told them it was unlikely to work out due to a lack of membership, but the team persisted. They kept showing up, mapping out plans and proving their commitment. After months of back and forth, the club was finalized in May 2024.
“We kind of had to prove to him that we had the means to do it,” Berle said. “But he actually did allocate the money to get jerseys for the first year, which was amazing.”
At the start of the fall 2024 semester, the team started hosting open practices where anyone could come. Bernard did not know what to expect and was worried that participation might be low. As the team continued to advertise, Bernard was approached by fellow students thanking her for starting a women's basketball club, which made her appreciate the small things of creating a positive community on campus.
As practices went on, participation was not an issue, and the team needed to host tryouts to make a competitive roster. In total, 30 women came out for a chance to get on the team. The officers took charge in making the cuts, evaluating everyone on skill level and dedication. Creating a positive environment was the main goal, Berle emphasized that taking people who showed deep dedication were selected. After tryouts the team had a roster of 17 motivated players.
“I know the officers have put in so much work for all of this,” Bernard said. “But it's truly worth it in the end, and it's lovely to see it affecting other people on the team.”
Now with an official team, the officers had to build the chemistry between everyone. Bernard emphasized that off-court connection was the most effective for building the team's foundation and culture. The club officers hosted events like game nights to not only boost team morale but to create a community that American has not had in some time.
One of those officers is Bauer, who believes that the way they built up their chemistry is a big reason for their success on the court. The club had its first scrimmage against Georgetown on Oct. 18. Even though the team did not win, it was a close game, and Bauer was impressed with how quickly the team was able to play well together.
“It was honestly just a really emotional and happy moment for all of us to see that,” Bauer said. “Like all of our hard work and our dreams from last year actually come true. So, it was just definitely a great moment, and we've been trying to keep that momentum up throughout the rest of the semester.”
The club is part of the National Club Basketball Association, which provides students the chance to play competitive basketball outside the NCAA. The competitive season starts in the spring for American, and if the club can manage to go undefeated, they will be eligible for the playoffs. The idea of making the playoffs is an exciting, but stressful, dream for the officers. For Bauer, everything is moving fast, from there being no club to fighting for a spot in the playoffs.
One of the main advantages the team has is that it is freshmen heavy, with many of the players coming straight from varsity high school basketball. Bauer hopes the freshmen will stick with the club, as she noted that they will help build up and maintain the culture once she’s gone. But for Bauer, she's just happy to see other women continue their basketball journey straight out of high school and still play well in their first two scrimmages.
“Those were both really exciting opportunities to see how our team actually would stand,” Bauer said. “And they were both really big successes.”
This article was edited by Penelope Jennings, Delaney Hoke and Abigail Turner. Copy editing done by Luna Jinks, Emma Brown and Sabine Kanter-Huchting.
