Augustana Observer

Augustana Observer

Augustana Observer

VanRoeyen talks goals for her team

Last week, Observer Staff reporter Sal Navarro sat down with Augustana women’s basketball co-captain Val VanRoeyen to talk about her team’s performance and the highs and lows of her Augustana career.
Q: Do you consider the team’s performance thus far to be improved from last year?
A: “I would consider it to be an improvement, because I think that we have come together a lot and…our performance is much more team orientated. I think we have done a better job doing the little things like executing details and (coming back) from a deficit. We still make mistakes as a team, but as a whole we have improved a lot in those areas.”
Q: What makes this season different from previous years?
A: “The biggest thing, from my perspective, is the mentality. I came from a winning program in high school. (During) my senior year, we had a 29-1 record. Then I came here, and if we lost a game, we just expected that we were going to lose. Throughout the years, we have lost that losing mentality and proved to [the] conference and other teams that not only are we able to compete, but we are also able to win. We don’t come into games expressing that we are going to lose or accept that we are. We are not okay with that, and we are hungry to get back to practice.”
Q: Being a senior, do you consider yourself to have grown over the years? If so, in what ways?
A: “I have definitely grown a lot since I came in as a freshman. I initially was just the shooting guard my freshman year. With shooting alone, I think I’ve improved my shots tremendously, but I’ve also improved in other areas of the game such as defense and attacking the basket.”
Q: What are some obstacles you’ve faced here during your years at Augustana?
A: “One of my biggest obstacles was adjusting as to how the team works because I didn’t expect to come into a program where losing was an option. Even trying to understand that feeling made it difficult to come into practice and see people down, as well as trying to change their views.”
Q: Do the goals for the team change or stay consistent?
A: “They kind of changed. Coming in as a freshman the main goal was that we wanted to make the tournament, but over the years we’ve realized that we’ve had smaller goals set for ourselves. Having these small goals is what will lead into an overall outcome of wining these many games or making it farther in conference.”

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VanRoeyen talks goals for her team