By Kyle LoJacono
Six years ago Samantha Fernandez was cut from her middle school basketball team.
Instead of sulking, the Academy at the Lakes point guard worked harder, and her efforts paid off as she signed May 8 to play at Lon Morris College, a junior college in Texas.
“This journey has been the biggest thing in my life,” said Fernandez, who will study nursing.
Fernandez made the Farnell Middle team the next year in eighth grade and played two seasons at Sickles before transferring to Oldsmar Christian. When that basketball program closed she made the move north to run the Wildcats’ offense.
The academy went 23-6 last season while earning a district and regional championship en route to the first final four appearance for any program in school history. Fernandez averaged 13 points, 8.4 assists and 5.6 rebounds as a senior.
Fernandez made the transition look easy, but she had to use more than her skill while learning from Wildcats coach Karim Nohra.
“In the first couple of days of practice we were talking about things, and Sam had her head down and was nowhere to be heard from; basically out in la-la land,” Nohra said. “I said to her ‘what’s wrong?’ she said ‘coach this is like school.’ I said ‘welcome to Nohra school.’ She’s learned a lot about how it takes more than just athletic ability. You do have to use your brain. Hopefully I gave her that. I wish I had her for another year.”
Fernandez said attending the academy was more than she expected.
“Coming here this year has made me grow as a person and given me a different outlook,” Fernandez said. “The mental game is what I needed, and I definitely got that from coach Nohra.”
