By Barbara Day, M.S., R.D., C.N.
Saturday, December 11, I took my the granddaughters, Kennedy, Harper and Emory, their cousin, Morgan, Morgan’s mother, Jenny and Kennedy’s friend, Olivia to watch the 13th ranked Lady Cardinals play basketball against Gardner Webb. It was a Girl’s Day Out. Us girls all love sports. These grandkids live in Jasper, Indiana so I had to choose a game when they would be activity-free on a week-end and could come to Louisville for the week-end event. We had great seats at mid-court five rolls from the team play. We could hear what the girls were saying to their team as they would drive down the court. (We have season tickets for the Men’s games and great seats but would have to sell our house to pay for tickets where we were lucky enough sit at this game). Holy Cow! The Lady Cards blew Gardner Webb out of the water by beating them 92 – 27.
Sisters – Shoni and Jude Schimmel
The girls noticed right away that the Lady Cards had two sisters playing, Shoni and Jude Schimmel. But what they didn’t know is their story!
I spied my friends, Jim and Jane Ramsey across the court so I took the opportunity to wish them a Merry Christmas and chat with them at half time. (Dr. Ramsey is the President of UL). I told them about the Girls Day Out and how the girls were excited to see two sisters playing on the same team. Jane informed me about the Schimmel sisters living on an Umatilla Indian Reservation in Mission, Oregon until their mother Ceci, took a women’s basketball coaching job at a Franklin High School in Portland, Oregon. The girls’ father, Rick, and their mother never married. They are considered a mixed race couple which seemed to cause a major issue for them while they lived on the Umatilla Reservation according to the Oregonian. Tired of all the controversey surrounding their mixed relationship, Ceci decided to move her family off the reservation. It was a very difficult decision for the family since the Native American family is a very close unit.
Image from: www.indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com
Off the Reservation to Big City Living
Ceci Moses took her family of seven (one child was born after the move) 3 hours away from Pendleton to Portland, Oregon to pursue her basketball coaching career and help Shoni continue in her quest to get a college scholarship. And excel she did under her mother’s guidance and coaching. In 2010, Shoni was selected to the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association All-American Team. Many college teams recruited Shoni including Stanford, how great is it that Shoni ended up at the University of Louisville. Shoni has not stopped contributing to her team in a positive way. In fact, as a freshman at UL, Shoni was named First Team All-American as a freshman at UL.
Image from: www.npr.org
Image from: www.courier-journal.com
Sister, Jude, joined the team this year. Jude is two inches shorter than Shoni but has a basketball style similar to Shoni. Jude, an excellent student, skipped her eight grade year so she could spend another year playing ball with her older sister! Sister, Jude, was a basketball sensation in her own right but you can bet Shoni had set the bar high for little sister, Jude and achieve she did as well.
Off the Rez: The Movie about Shoni
In addition to telling me about the girls’ background, Jane Ramsey told me about a TLC documentary movie that was made about Shoni called Off the Rez. Check out the movie shorts at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgGEJRFJc5k.
Teammates on the Reservation Mission Oregon
Shoni took her teammates to her reservation to work one-on-one with the kids are their basketball skills. What a great learning experience for the Lady Cardinals! On December 17, the Lady Cards are playing Portland. You can bet there will be some of Shoni and Jude’s family, friends and former classmates who will be cheering the girls on!
Meeting the Schimmel Sisters
Since I used to be the sports nutritionist for UL for 10 years and still have friends in the Athletic Department, I am hoping to get some face time for me and for my granddaughters with the Schimmel sisters and also their autographs. With three sisters competing for the spotlight in their own family, it’s good to have excellent role models like the Schimmel sisters. I understand the Lady Cards have a meet and greet with their fans after most of their games.
If you love to watch great basketball and see effective basketball team work, check out the Lady Cards. Coach Crum said that women basketball players typically have great fundamentals and play the game the way it should be played. Men basketball players are hot shots and sometimes play the game as if they were the only player on the team!
Barbara Day, M.S., R.D., C.N, is a registered dietitian who has been teaching healthy lifestyles strategies to consumers for over 35+ years. Barbara has a new health and wellness online magazine as well.
