Athlete of the Week: 10 questions with Grace Bowie, New Trier basketball

Grace Bowie is a senior forward for the Trevians. She had 11 rebounds in a recent overtime victory against Glenbrook North.

1. Do you have any pregame rituals or superstitions?

I don’t have my own. As a team, we have a few. Once the coaches leave the classroom (after the pregame talk), we have a clap and hit the clock in the classroom before we go out to the gym. And at the end of our warmup, we all dive on the floor together. It’s a good way to get together before games. New Trier has been doing it for a long time and it’s been passed down through the years.

2. What are your plans for next year?

I’m thinking of studying psychology. I’m a little unsure. I might do teaching. Or maybe I want to teach psychology and put them together. I took (psychology) as a class this year and it really interested me. I’m not sure (where) yet. I’ve applied to 10 schools and I’ll be hearing from a lot soon.

3. What is your top sports moment so far?

Maybe one moment for me, especially this season, was from one of our first games. Against Phillips, I had two threes and it was a really big moment for me. I’m like a center, a post player, and don’t normally shoot like that. I don’t think of myself as a shooter, but our coach has been trying to get me more confident in myself. Last year I didn’t even attempt a three. This year, I’ve shot seven and made 80% of them.

4. How has your game changed over your New Trier years?

Every year has been pretty different for me. On the freshman team, I was one of the starters. We didn’t have a lot of players and it was fun to be one of the leaders. It was similar as a sophomore on the JV team. I was one of the captains. And then last year, I was more of a bench player. It was a new experience for me and helped me learn different ways to support the team when you’re not playing. It helped me work on being a good teammate —  focusing on the team’s success in other ways, bringing up the energy.

This year, I put in a lot of time in the summer and fall. I was doing cross-country in the fall but tried to go to as many (basketball) things that I could. … Throughout the season, I’ve already gained a lot of confidence. .. I’ve been shooting more and getting a lot of rebounds that have really helped.

5. If you could play another sport, what would it be?

I would probably say lacrosse. I played freshman year and was really bad. It looks really impressive when you’re good at it and I think it looks really fun. It’s outside, so different from basketball. It would be nice to play in the summer.

6. What is your favorite thing to do off the court?

I would say just hanging out with friends. Not really now but in the summer, go to the beach and tan and swim. Or just driving around and talking with friends is fun. Spending time with family. I also like playing board games with friends.

7. What’s your TV show right now?

One show I’ve been watching a lot recently is “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives.” It’s one of those reality shows but it’s funny and interesting to watch. It’s one of those shows with a lot of drama.

8. If you’re in Walgreens with a couple bucks, what are you buying?

I would definitely say Nerds Gummy Clusters in the blue package. That’s the less popular one but it’s much better I think.

9. What is something people don’t know about you?

Maybe something people don’t know is that I really like the outdoors and spending time outside. I have only done this once in high school, but I used to go on backpacking trips. The summer before freshman year I went two weeks backpacking in Iceland.

10. What are the goals of this team and how is it going?

I think our top goal will be to win a regional. Last year we fell short and the year before we did win. We really hope this year to step up and finish. We started off the season with some hard games: Carmel, Loyola and Fenwick. It’s good to have those games because they are allowing us to see mistakes we made and how to grow from them. Even though it’s a bit of a rough start, we’re learning things from every game. … We have a lot of new players this year and need to find our flow together.

Against Maine South, a really good team, we competed really well with them, showing our growth. Hopefully we’ll finish the year stronger than we started.

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