Student Highlight: Rookie Star Taylor Miyasaki
By Josh Skabelund
Recent winner of the USA South Player of the week, Taylor Miyasaki is a freshman on the Southern Virginia University women’s basketball team.
What brought you to SVU?
I heard about Southern Virginia [University] from my friend Stu and I decided to reach out to the basketball coaches here. That led to me coming out on a visit, and I loved the campus and how friendly everyone was. It really felt like a home.
Where are you from?
I’m from Eagle Mountain, Utah.
What are you majoring in?
I’m majoring in family and human development.
What’s your favorite part of school?
Academic wise, I love all of my family health and development classes. They’re so interesting.
Non-academic wise, I love all the activities Student Life puts together like the dances, dodgeball tournaments, mini golf, etc.
When did you start playing basketball?
I started playing basketball in second grade, so for about 12 years.
Thoughts and feelings about your freshman year?
I think my freshman year was a huge year for learning. I think that we’ve set the standard for the Southern Virginia women’s basketball program, winning conference and going to nationals. I’m excited to see what the future holds for us.
What are some key factors in your individual success?
I think over the years I’ve learned that the season is never really over, the time to get better and really work on your skills is in the off-season.
What are some key factors in the team’s success?
I think we all just bought into what our coach said and we were the more disciplined team.
Thoughts and feelings about the conference tournament?
I still think it’s surreal that we won the championship! All the hard work we put into the season paid off.
What excited you most about the NCAA tournament?
The thing that excited me the most was the fact that we were going to put Southern Virginia on the map, we were making a name for ourselves.
