By BROOKLYNN LORENZEN
He used to drop Lady Griz newspaper articles off at the coaches’ offices for my teammates and me. Sometimes they were laminated, sometimes they were just clippings, but whatever they were, they always ended with a note reminding us to “keep on keepin’ on!”
I don’t think any of us understood what it meant or the significance at the time. But fast forward seven years later, and I find myself repeating this phrase, along with countless others that were engrained into my head during my Lady Griz tenure, to help me get through the various challenges, wins, and losses of my adult life.
These days, my adult life is back here in Portland, Oregon. I’m working for my dream company, Nike, Inc.
Actually, I’m even luckier in that I get to work for my life-long hero, Michael Jordan. I get to make shoes with a Jumpman on them and my specific role is to make sure those shoes perform and are crafted to the highest level. It sounds pretty cool and in all honesty, it is.
But similar to being the Point Guard for the Lady Griz, it comes with a lot of responsibility, pressure, and challenge. There are days when I feel like I’ve dropped the sweetest dime to get us the W and others when I feel like I’ve missed the game-winning free throw. In both scenarios, I keep on keepin’ on.
And that’s life, right? For all of us.
But as a ball player, and more specifically, a Lady Griz, I feel blessed in that I have been given a certain advantage from my U of M experiences. We’re taught not only how to play basketball at the highest level, but also how to be upstanding student-athletes, role models, and people.
In learning these lessons, we’ve been given the tools we need to prepare for the wins and the losses of life, in terms of attitude, reaction, and what we take away and apply towards the future.
When you’re a player, you don’t realize how these lessons, along with the work, discipline, commitment, relationships, and passion shape who we become and the way we live our lives in much later years.
But they do. They are a fundamental part of who we are, the choices we make, and the roles we play as business people, wives, mothers, daughters, sisters, and friends.
And that’s pretty sweet, in my opinion. It’s one more commonality of all Lady Griz. We keep on keepin’ on.
I know my fellow Lady Griz sisters share the same sentiments and walked away from their glory days with the same unique perspective. I also know these are the lessons that Rob, Annette, Shannon, and Trish continue to teach the young women who pass through our program.
So to all of us — past, present, and future LGs — I hope you are well, I hope you are happy, and I hope you keep on keepin’ on!
Love you girlies!
Want more behind-the-scenes action from the Lady Griz? Check out other posts from Krista Redpath Pyron and more players: Once a Lady Griz, Always a Lady Griz, Reintroducing Shannon Cate, and Lady Griz Basketball Pre-Game Rituals.
Visit the All Things Lady Griz archive.
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Brooklynn Lorenzen played ball for the Lady Griz from 2000-2004 and served as Graduate Assistant in 2005. She currently lives in Portland, Oregon with her hubby, Grant, and two babygirls, Mocha and Puffy (chihuahuas). Brooklynn works for Brand Jordan, a subsidiary of Nike, Inc. where she solves the world’s greatest problems, one shoe at a time! She also coaches 7th grade youth basketball, where she finds herself jumping up and down, shouting, and turning grey prematurely, similar to a special somebody that we all know and love.