Junior Aniah Cross has played sports – specifically basketball – since fourth grade. In high school, she is also involved in volleyball and track, but her love for basketball is the strongest.
One of her earliest memories of playing basketball was in fourth grade when her dad Andrew Cross got a technical foul at one of her games. Aniah said she was going up for a layup when a girl pushed her. She ended up falling on her side and the referee didn’t call a foul.
As the game went on, Aniah said her dad kept yelling at the referee, which led him to getting a technical foul. Cross has been coaching her since she was in 4th grade, and is now in his second season as head coach of the varsity squad. He describes coaching her as a fun experience as he watches her grow and develop skill-wise and personality-wise.
“My favorite part is getting to coach my kid,” Cross said. “It’s very special to me because not every coach gets to coach their own kid.”
Since Aniah started high school, she’s been the starting point guard for the girls basketball team. But things took a turn for the worst her freshman year during track season. Aniah was doing a circuit workout, where you jog the first half and sprint the other half. On the last set she hyperextended her knee and couldn’t walk on it. Aniah had a slight tear in her meniscus and an irritated ACL.
“I was out for six months,” Aniah said. “Then I was in PT [physical therapy] and I felt like I couldn’t do anything.”
To recover, Aniah had to go to PT twice a week and had to ice her knee for 30-45 minutes and then heat it for 20 minutes everyday. While she had to sit out her sophomore volleyball season because she was still healing, she was thankful that she didn’t need any major surgeries.
Aniah said her mom was her best motivator when it came to her recovery. Her mom was there every step of the way when Aniah felt unmotivated to do anything. She also stayed motivated by thinking about what would come after she was healed.
“I just knew that, sooner or later, I’d be playing basketball,” Aniah said.
Aniah is now fully recovered and has the basketball team off to a strong start. The team starts district play Friday at home against Nacogdoches.
“I’m really looking forward to the season because I’ll actually get to play without discomfort,” Aniah said.
