Outside of my school life, and outside of my life at home, I have another life on the road with my teammates.

What do you do on the weekends? Homework, catch up on sleep, go to Big Show, hang out with friends ...

I rarely have a chance to do any of these things in the springtime. Chances are I'll be in some other state playing basketball for half of the day, and traveling the other half.

This is my third year playing AAU basketball, and I'm telling you, it's draining during school.

I really wanted to see Big Show, and it would have been nice to catch up on some homework, and especially some sleep.

But no, I was playing on a court somewhere in Cincinnati bright and early in the morning, even before most Uni kids got up to run the 5K.

After track practices, I'd change and go straight to basketball. On Friday nights, I'd be traveling. On Sunday nights, I'd just be getting home.

It's hard, I admit. It's so worth it, though. I'm not sure what I'd do with myself over the summers if I didn't have AAU. Not only that, but I wouldn't have near as many contacts from college recruits.

I'm not sure how many letters I've gotten.

But the fact that I'm able to play in exposure events like the Windy City Classic, the Mid America Challenge, and the Nike Summer Showcase, and have a great time playing ball with some cool people from all around Illinois is so worth it.

I like my team this year a lot. There are some crazy girls on it. You don't even want to know what havoc we wreak in the hotels that we stay in at tournaments.

Our name is Illinois Crush, and there are girls from all over Central Illinois playing right now. Staci Starkweather is our coach, former recruiter for Division I, college coach, and present referee and middle school coach.

We practice either at Franklin Middle School or Centennial High School as often as we can.

At practices a summer or two ago, in a smoldering hot gym, our coach would blast some music and we'd just play some ball. We've become a little more disciplined since then. But we still have fun with little inside jokes like “Pookie” ... just a game some of us play when the coach isn't looking.

I love playing with hardcore competition over the summers. It's a nice treat for me coming from Uni sports.

This summer will be my last year playing on the team on account of me becoming a senior next year (crap ... ), so I'm intent on putting my all into it.

It won't be my last chance to get looked at by recruits, though. I'm planning on going to a few more Adidas Basketball Jamborees.

But what more could I ask for?

I get to play, travel, and get college looks. This summer might be the most important and exciting of all.