The Long Hard Road

Toes on the line, she focuses on the rim. As she dribbles the ball, the sound echoes throughout the empty gymnasium. The fluorescent lights shutting off one by one in that ever-so-familiar sound. The last minutes of practice tick-tick-ticking away. 

She shoots the free throw like hundreds of times before, a drop of sweat rolling off her already saturated shirt, cascading down to meet an inevitable fate. Barreling through the air reaching out to anything to slow it on its journey until it hits the floor. 

Crashing off the rim she runs off to rebound her shot and gather up her things. As the coach shoos her out for the evening one thing still remains. That drop of sweat, one of thousands, on that court and many like it, remains there. 

According to an article put out by the NCAA, every year roughly 400,000 high school students across the world put in the time and effort to be able to play women’s basketball competitively on a collegiate level. With only 4.1% of them achieving this, and only a staggering 1.3% doing it on the Division I level. 

Makinna Serrata is one of this tiny percentage of students. She is currently a student-athlete at Texas A&M Corpus Christi, playing women’s basketball in the NCAA Division I Southland Conference. Getting here was not easy, it was a long and arduous journey. A journey that started long before now, back on that line with the lights fading, and that drop of sweat. 

The Drive

What would drive a person to strive for such a challenging goal, Tiffany Younts would reflect back to the first tumbling classes that her daughter took. Younts recounts how within days she was moved up to tumble with the older group. 

“She just has a passion for competing and being the best, which brings out the passion when it comes to sports,” Younts said. “She doesn’t half-ass anything.” 

This was simply just the start of her athletic career. Tumbling would lead to little league baseball, volleyball, track & field, and of course basketball. Serrata states that sports were just always present while growing up. “I grew up around guys, and I was the only girl,” Serrata said. “So I would just play ball with them.”

In just the sixth grade she had already begun practicing with the high school basketball girls. Waking up early during the holidays or summer breaks just to go to practice with them. “She put in the time and hard work when the coach was not asking her to,” Younts said. “She dedicated herself to sports and loved every minute of it.”

It was at this time that Serrata made a decision that would shape her life. The decision to set a goal that sounds outlandish, but within reach for someone willing to sacrifice for it. The decision that no matter what, she was going to play Division I basketball.

“From junior high, she told me that she would play for a Division I school,” Younts said. Now with her mindset on this daunting goal, there was only one thing left to do; reach it. 

Hustle & Heart

The next few years of pursuing this goal proved to be full of challenges for Serrata. There were many obstacles on this road, one of which was the school she attended. Serrata went to McMullen County High school, a small 1A school in the heart of South Texas. 

With large powerhouse 6A schools receiving most of the attention of college scouts, it is hard for an athlete like Serrata to get on the radar. According to an article by USA Today High School Sports, it just comes down to the fact that college coaches just do not have the time and resources to travel to every high school in the country looking for recruits. This was the first step for Serrata, just getting noticed.

“We had to find a way to get her seen,” Younts said. “I, as her mother, have never been in this situation so there is the second challenge we both had to overcome.”

Serrata eventually joined a couple of club teams that would play in tournaments that scouts regularly attended. This did not take away from her school sports though. Her long-time coach Tony Taylor can attest to this. 

“In the fall she played volleyball, in the winter basketball, and in spring she did track and field,” Taylor said. “She would make all our practices and still go off to practice with her club team.” 

This along with her academics would leave Serrata spread thin. “There would be times that I would finish practice at school,” Serrata said. “And then I would have to drive an hour and a half to make it to my club team’s practice.” As the end of her high school career neared though, this hard work would prove to be all worthwhile. 

During her junior year of high school, the offers started flowing in. First for sports like track and field or volleyball, but Serrata turned those down, staying true to her goal that she had set years before. Until she was approached by a coach from Texas A&M Corpus Christi. 

The Next Level

That was the beginning of the end for Serrata. The end of a goal set long ago, an achievement that was seven years in the making, but it is also the beginning of a new goal. A goal to be the best athlete she can be for her team, and to be a good Islander. 

With toes on the line, she focuses on the rim. As she dribbles the ball, the roar of the crowd echoes in her ears. The light of the camera flashes dances across her eyes. She shoots the free throw like thousands of times before, a drop of sweat rolling off her already saturated jersey. Silence spreads through the gym interrupted only by the crisp sound of the ball sailing through the net. 

As they fast break back down court one thing remains on that line. That drop of sweat, like millions of others like it, symbolizing the accumulation of the countless hours on hundreds of other courts. A symbol of all of the hard work put in. A symbol of the long hard road.