Alison Prieto

Allison Prieto’s love for sports began when she was young, when she got hooked on basketball. She played all throughout high school and planned to continue playing basketball in college, so she had her eye on a basketball club on her college campus.

When she arrived at college, however, she found out that the club was canceled due to a lack of interest from female students. 

“As I entered college, I knew that I wanted to continue to play basketball,” Prieto explained. “However, I soon learned that the club had vanished after covid-19 when all the girls either left or graduated.” 

She was disappointed to hear this news, but the love she had for basketball didn’t leave her. She eventually decided to gather girls to reopen the club, taking up the position of club president.  

However, school work and extracurriculars started to compile shortly after. The responsibility of handling the club became too much for her to handle as a freshman in college, so she decided to step down.

“At first I was excited because I just wanted to be back on the court again and play the game I love,” Prieto said. “However, it soon became very difficult building up the club as a freshmen and being part of other extracurriculars became too difficult to juggle everything at once. I then took the hard decision to leave my position and team and focus on my studies.” 

Currently, she is a sophomore attending California State University Northridge (CSUN) where she participates in an intramural sports club, which allows students to join scrimmages and games with their self-made teams.

Although she does not play competitively, her love for her sport remains central to her, helping her choose physical therapy as a career path. 

“I will always have a strong connection and love for my sport,” Prieto said. “All the experiences, teams and people I’ve met through basketball have helped me grow into the person I am today. I’m currently majoring in kinesiology exercise science, with the hopes of becoming a physical therapist. This career path all comes back to my love for physical activity. I want to emphasize working with sports teams in the future, especially for basketball.” 

Prieto’s favorite part about playing basketball at Van Nuys was the friendships she gained. 

“Playing basketball through high school taught me how to be a leader, an active listener and to have perseverance and determination,” Prieto said. “My favorite memories playing basketball in high school were the after practice shoot around or going out with the team and getting food. I don’t remember my senior night because it was a bittersweet moment.”