Skylar Piekema

The Chance to Play Again

A first-year athlete brings a hard-earned perspective to the work ahead.

When Skylar Piekema finds a day difficult, she remembers a time when she couldn’t walk and playing basketball was the thing she wanted most.

That memory changes the question. The work in front of her is demanding. Having the chance to do it matters.

Basketball started at 15, encouraged by family. The summer before her senior year, she trained every day, sometimes more than once. During the fall season, improvement became visible. She enjoyed the commitment and the results, and began trusting what effort could produce.

Tearing her ACL challenged that trust. Recovery involved physical rehabilitation and the mental work of believing in her body again.

Improvement had once felt visible: train repeatedly, play, notice the results. The injury made the relationship more complicated. Confidence in what her body could do had to be rebuilt alongside the physical recovery. The difficult part was not simply waiting for an opportunity to play, but feeling ready to trust herself when it returned.

That is why the memory of being unable to walk remains useful. It puts the current work beside something she once wanted intensely. A hard practice can still be hard, while also being an opportunity she values. Gratitude does not remove the effort; it gives her another reason to make it.

She now tries to frame setbacks as part of the process rather than a definition of her ability.

“These setbacks do not define who I am and what I’m capable of,” she says.

Entering her first year of eligibility with the Lightning, Skylar wants more consistent scoring, stronger basketball IQ, and eventually a starting role. She imagines success as being a scoring threat and carrying meaningful responsibility within a team.

Her mom remains her role model, continuing to support her through challenges while facing plenty of her own. That example helps Skylar recognize perseverance in everyday life as well as sport.

Coaching a group of younger girls gave her another perspective on the opportunity. Encouraging them through difficult moments showed her how much it can mean to help someone else believe in what they can do.

Being able to empower them mattered to her. She had her own experience of confidence becoming difficult to reach, and could appreciate what encouragement might give someone still learning. The coaching brought her attention beyond her individual game and toward the effect she could have on another person’s effort.

At St. Mary’s, she wants that awareness to carry into team life. Showing up includes being mentally present for the group, rather than simply attending with her body. Her personal targets—consistency, basketball IQ, a bigger role—become more useful when they are connected to how she can help the people on the floor beside her.

At St. Mary’s, she wants to show up mentally as well as physically, for teammates as much as herself.

Skylar knows what it feels like to watch an opportunity become temporarily unavailable. Now she has a season in front of her, and a clear memory of how much she wanted it.