On a Penn women’s basketball trip to Arizona this past winter break, sophomore center Tina Njike met a childhood friend from Canada, who she used to play basketball with. When Penn played Arizona State, her friend’s family watched the game, and she met him again after five years. Together in Canada, reuniting in Arizona.
“I'm looking back at everything and I'm like, wait, this is an amazing trip,” Njike said.
Reuniting with her basketball friend wasn’t the only highlight of the winter break trip.
“The tacos over there were literally fire.”
Near Arizona State University’s campus, the women’s basketball team tried out Mexican restaurant Taco Boys when they were in Tempe, Ariz. to play ASU. It impressed Njike.
“I love food,” she said. In fact, it is one of the only things she remembers from Brussels, Belgium, where she was born. Food, Dora the Explorer, with her Nintendo DS rounding out her memories. Njike then moved to Canada at five, where her younger siblings were born, and later relocated to Utah around the start of high school.
“I'm from a little bit all over the place,” Njike said.
When people ask her where she’s from, she doesn't have a single answer.
“I throw a different answer every time. I'm like, I'm from Utah, or I'm from Montreal, or I'm from Belgium," Njike said, "Or I'm from Cameroon … It just depends how I’m feeling.”
If she decides to pursue American citizenship — she’s had a green card for five years now — Njike would be a citizen of three countries: Belgium, Canada, and the United States. But it’s nothing she really wants, as of now. Njike had a straightforward, relatable answer.
“I just don't feel like doing the [citizenship] exam,” Njike said.
Maybe it’s because she’s moved around so frequently and is used to change, but Njike is frank with her emotions. She laughs freely when speaking about her love for tacos; she shakes her head firmly when talking about her reluctance to take an exam on forgotten historical facts for another passport, and she looks straight at you when sharing about her two season-ending injuries.
She did honestly admit her frustration about tearing her right ACL and lateral meniscus in her junior year of high school and then her left ACL and lateral meniscus on her first day of camp at Penn.
“It was just so disappointing cause you do all this work in the summer to get back to where you were before … and then on your first day, boom.”
The rehab always takes time, and then an athlete needs even more time to train and get back into shape. It’s not the way one envisions the end of their high school career and the start of their college career. Njike ended up not playing basketball for nearly two years because of her knee injuries, which was difficult not only for her but also for her team.
“How do you integrate [injured players] into a daily system where they're not feeling the same thing as the players?” Penn women’s basketball head coach Mike McLaughlin said.
“I'm someone who's very hard on myself and I need to not be as harsh on myself ... and give myself patience and grace,” Njike said.
So she fought to keep a positive mindset.
“I can't compare my process with anybody else's process,” Njike told herself.
When the rest of the team was at practice, she and a fellow injured teammate went to lift. Even though she couldn’t play, Tina made it to almost every single game, making sure to support her teammates.
“She did really well recovering. You know, she worked really hard,” McLaughlin said, "And as a coach, he tried “to make sure we acknowledge that she's putting in the work the same way [other players] are.”
Now a sophomore, Njike is, in “basketball terms,” a freshman on the court. When the younger girls ask her for advice, she often tells them to ask sophomore guard Mataya Gayle, who has one more year under her belt. But it doesn’t bother her. Her injury didn’t change her relationship with her team — it changed her.
“I feel like especially being injured, I thankfully had the opportunity to find an identity outside of basketball, because it was taken away from me twice,” Njike said.
She realized that she had so much more besides just basketball. As a neuroscience major, she dreams of being an OBGYN or a radiologist or even a sports physician. The dream is to make an impact in the medical field, where racial disparities are all too real. During her time away from the court, Njike came to learn much more about the professional world, including all the research internships, fellowships, and volunteer opportunities that were available to her through Penn. Her world widened from beyond the court to the endless horizons her career — really, her life — could take her.
As a student-athlete, Njike acknowledged that the identity of being an athlete can become all-encompassing when it really shouldn’t.
“The separation between you as a student and you as an athlete … it just makes everything calmer,” Njike said. That “seesaw” of life, between sports and academics and everything else, has helped ground Njike.
However, when school is not going well, she’s at practice, focuses solely on basketball, and forgets about school for two hours. When basketball isn’t going well, she takes a step back to remember she has her role as a student and friend. Though Njike still “love[s] the sport with my whole entire heart,” she also realized that basketball couldn‘t be her “end all be all.”
Even with these realizations, even as she is now back on the court, fully immersed in practice and games, Tina keeps it real, just as she always has. “I’m not gonna lie to you and be like, oh my gosh, the seesaw is perfect. It isn't, but I feel like just having a basis … helps with everything.”
While McLaughlin was pleased to see her back in action this year, he stressed the importance of the upcoming summer for Njike, who saw 141 minutes of gameplay for an average of six minutes per game this past season.
“I think if she meets the demand of what she has to do over the summer and get herself in peak physical condition, I think, I think she'll meet that,” McLaughlin said while referencing her possible increased role next season. “A lot of it’s on Tina to put the work in, and she's a worker, so I am confident.”
Njike had to work through some difficult things, and moving through four vastly different countries and enduring two season-ending injuries, her journey has never been linear.
“Life needs to be difficult sometimes, you know?” she said.
The future is still uncertain, even where she will play her one year of college eligibility after graduation, but she’s focused on balancing that seesaw.
The Daily Pennsylvanian is an independent, student-run newspaper. Please consider making a donation to support the coverage that shapes the University. Your generosity ensures a future of strong journalism at Penn.
Donate
