
YORK, PA – The No. 10 York College
women’s basketball team advanced to the Sweet 16 in the 2009
NCAA Division III women’s basketball tournament Saturday, and
with the next round will come a new memory and experience for
senior forward Chanel Perez (Biglerville,
Pa./Gettysburg) to add to her final season as a
Spartan.
No matter the outcome of the tournament for the 27-2 Spartans, the
season’s end is quickly approaching. For Perez, as with
York’s five other seniors, every game could be her last.
“I’m so excited and am just trying to enjoy every
minute,” Perez said. “Everyone has been telling us
it’s going to go by so fast, and it has because the regular
season is over. It’s hard to believe.
Perez, a 2008-2009 second-team All-CAC selection, said she is
still working hard at every practice to be at her personal
best.
“My motivation this season has been playing for my coaches,
teammates, family and myself because it is the last season that I
will play for the York College Spartans.”
Back when Perez was still playing high school basketball for
Biglerville and Gettysburg, her college aspirations did not even
include attending York.
“It was really weird because I chose York last
minute,” Perez said. “I wanted to do physical therapy,
so my [biology] major would’ve been here. Then I decided I
wanted to do nursing, which has worked out to be good.
“I definitely wanted to play ball here. So I just chose the
school, called the coach around April (of 2005) and said,
‘I’m coming to York College.’”
Remembering back to her freshman year, Perez said she never
imagined her senior year would be as successful as it has been.
“I imagined us being successful because I think I’m a
pretty positive thinker like that,” Perez said. “But
what are we, 27-2 now? That’s amazing. I didn’t doubt
it, but I didn’t expect it.”
Last season, Perez’s junior campaign, York finished 19-8
overall and 10-6 in Capital Athletic Conference play, good enough
only for fourth place.
Well, it is not last season anymore.
“I think this year‘s biggest difference is our
‘one game at a time’ theme,” Perez said,
“Because every other year we were ‘bound for
hope’ and that was our little thing. We have [a theme] every
year, and this year we said, ‘All right, let’s just
take it one game at a time before we think about the Final
Four.’ And it’s been pretty successful.”
But focusing too hard is also not good, Perez mentioned. She has
her own method of loosening the team’s tension before
games.
“Our pregame thing is we just goof around to music and dance
around like idiots,” Perez said.
Sometimes that includes performing Beyoncé dances.
“I like to dance and I heard from my friends that she was
giving out $2,500 if you could do the ‘Single Ladies’
dance just like her. So I try it out a little bit.”
Then the ladies leave the locker room and head onto the court,
once again reminding Perez it may be her last time doing so.
“I start thinking, ‘This could be my last practice.
This could be my last foul shot.’ And I get rid of that
thought right away,” Perez commented. “I try not to
think about my senior year because I just don’t want to come
to the realization that basketball is going to be over.”
When the season finally does come to a close, Perez said the sport
will still be around her, from working York College’s summer
youth basketball camps to playing in leagues whenever she can.
Perez said coaching may even be somewhere in her future.
Perez currently has a job at York Hospital and hopes to work in
the neonatal intensive care unit or labor and delivery upon
graduating. But for right now, Perez is still intensely focused on
her studies.
“Being a nursing major, there’s so much stuff to
do,” Perez said. “Hours and hours of clinical and
paperwork, but I guess I enjoy it all…It’s a
challenge, but it’s doable.
“Everyone says, “School first.” I do [put school
first], but basketball keeps me sane. It’s two hours a day
where I can not think about all that stressful stuff.”
So focusing on what is left of the basketball season, she heads
back to the court – a court which for once has had a higher
attendance than some of the men’s basketball games.
“I love the guys on the [men’s] team, but everyone
would come for the guys’ game and then clear out for ours, or
people would come at the end of our games because [the men] played
after,” Perez said. “It’s definitely cool to see
people enthusiastic about the women’s team –
finally.”
When the Spartans hit the road, family is always tailing the
caravan.
“My parents are at every game they can make. They’re
really supportive, and it seems like all the parents this season
are so excited and so supportive,” Perez said.
“They’re nuts, and I love it.”
Perez said she appreciates the support during her playing years
from family, former and current coaches, teammates, the community
and fans.
“As much as they love watching us, we are so grateful to
have them there,” Perez said.
With York tipping off in Rochester, N.Y., against Scranton in the
Sweet 16 Friday at 6 p.m., Perez and her fellow seniors will try to
prolong the time they have to wear a York basketball uniform.
“We’ve been playing together for almost four years
now,” Perez said. “I definitely expected us to do
something, but what we’ve done is really great.”
Written by Todd Shellock - York College sophomore
sport management major