On Tuesday, February 19th, 2013, Rebecca Yoshor of Stern’s Lady Macs basketball team was named to the Second Team of Capital One’s NCAA Division III Academic All-America® women’s basketball teams for the current academic year. As Yoshor put it, “It’s an award for a combination of athletics and academics.” The news made history in the YU Athletics Department, Yoshor being the first student-athlete at Stern to be awarded this honor. The Stern community may know her name and recognize her face, but who is the young woman behind the headlines who has achieved such a great personal triumph?
“Basketball is something of a family thing; both of my brothers also play,” explains Yoshor. “I began playing in sixth grade and I really liked it and I’ve been playing ever since.”
Like any player in competitive sports, Yoshor has experienced moments that are the makings of a good comedy.
“This is a great one,” she said with a laugh. “It was in sixth grade. I was only on the team because all of my friends were – they were like, ‘We should all play, it will be so much fun,’ etc. So I joined. It was a really big team so the coaches were rotating players, subbing people in at intervals so that everyone would get a chance to play. I didn’t really understand the rules so well, so I didn’t know that you can only score in one basket…so I scored in the wrong basket. After that, the coach explained the rules to me. There was actually another girl who also did that [shot in the wrong basket], but she missed so no one remembers it.”
People may remember silly slip-ups, but they also have a good memory for those proud moments when they achieved something great.
“My proudest moment? I’m still waiting for it,” joked Yoshor. “I mean, I’ve never had an amazing buzzer shot, but I’ve had a lot of good little moments. But yeah, there hasn’t been like one big final moment. I don’t know how many people really get that in real life. I’ve won tournaments and stuff though, and that’s always a good moment.”
Of course, there are always times when the sport seems more trying than triumphant.
“I do get mad – and literally, it’s so ridiculous,” she added emphatically, “there is really no reason for this because it’s just a game – but I get really mad sometimes when someone will beat up on me, but it isn’t counted as a foul. Many times it has happened that the referee will sort of overlook the action because basketball is a physical sport and I’m so tall. If I do something wrong, I definitely get extremely frustrated. One of my friends can always tell when I do something wrong because of the expression on my face. I guess I should work on my poker face,” she added with a grin.
Given that basketball is a very physical sport, there is certainly a potential for injuries that could set an athlete back.
“I’ve gotten little injuries – I twist my ankles all the time – but nothing major,” said Yoshor with a shrug. “I also get bruised all the time, especially on my arms, but so does everyone else, so I can’t complain.”
One of Yoshor’s greatest accomplishments is the fact she balances a rigorous basketball schedule with a six class course load.
“Budget your time well – it’s really that simple,” she explained. “There are lots of people who are involved in extra-curricular activities at Stern. You also drink lots of coffee – coffee for the mornings and soda for the afternoons. The guy at the convenience store knows me so well. After every practice I’ll go over and get a giant orange soda. And now, even though the season is over, I still don’t have time! I wonder, “How did I have time to do [basketball]? It doesn’t make sense.”
And what a season it has been, with Yoshor being honored as an All-American, the first in Stern history.
“The award is a big honor and it looks good on your profile. It’s on all of my applications for this summer, and almost every essay I have to write [for those applications] comes back to it,” she admitted. “Obviously, it does mean a lot to me. It especially means a lot because it never would have happened without the help of the athletics staff at both Stern and YC. Obviously, I met the requirements, but if they hadn’t done such a good job of advocating for me, it never would have happened. They really deserve a lot of the credit.”
“I also want to add,” she continued, “that I’m really lucky that I have such great parents and teachers who coordinated using Optimal PTC (Parent Teacher Conferences), an online program used to schedule conferences between parents and teachers for optimal communication. It’s also a great program that you can use it to schedule conferences with coaches.”
Of course, becoming an All-American is not the be-all-and-end-all for Yoshor’s aspirations.
“Overall, the future looks very bright,” Yoshor remarks. “I’m currently a junior, majoring in English. I’m trying to do public relations and advertising.” With her head in the game – both in terms of school and basketball – it looks like Yoshor is shooting for the win.
