Woodli Cime

The First, With More Ahead

A second-year player reaches a family milestone and keeps looking forward.

Woodli Cime’s proudest achievement isn’t a particular basket or game. It’s being the first person in his family to attend college or university, while playing the sport he loves at the collegiate level.

That accomplishment has weight. It belongs to him, but it also belongs to the people whose support helped make it possible.

The milestone changes the way he talks about achievement. He could name a game, but chooses a door he has opened in his own life. University and collegiate sport have become part of his family’s experience through something he worked to reach. That gives the next season a meaning that cannot be reduced to a performance on one night.

He still wants the next athletic level. The pride in being here exists beside an appetite to keep developing. Being first in his family to take this step has not made the step feel like the end of the route.

Basketball caught his attention through players such as Kevin Garnett, Carmelo Anthony, and LeBron James. By Grade 9, he wanted to compete seriously and test himself at a high level.

Being overlooked or left out has been one of his challenges. He has responded by working to show what he can do, while learning that improvement requires repeated effort. Prayer, meditation, training, and asking for help are part of how he resets after setbacks.

Now in his second year of eligibility with St. Mary’s, Woodli wants to help the Lightning reach nationals. Personally, he hopes to develop into a guard ready for higher levels of competition, with U Sports and NCAA Division I among his ambitions.

His faith and family keep that drive grounded. Parents, coaches, and relatives have shaped his mindset, and he wants to be useful in a local community where people he cares about value the program.

When he imagines success, he includes a group reaching a shared goal and individuals meeting the goals that matter to them. It is a broad picture, with room for the people who have helped him. His own basketball ambitions are substantial, but he wants achievement to be something that can be recognized around him, too.

He returns to prayer and loved ones when he needs to settle. Learning about languages, art, and music also gives him ways to engage with a wider world. The curiosity belongs to the same person who wants to keep expanding his game: there is always something else he can understand, practice, or try.

Away from basketball, he enjoys learning about languages, music, and art, as well as travel and time with loved ones. Cartoons and anime provide a lighter break. “Back at It” by Gunna fits the confidence he wants to carry after a setback.

His advice is to look in the mirror and work toward becoming a better version of that person each day.

Woodli wants to be remembered as a difference-maker and a good person. Reaching university has already opened a door in his family’s story. He intends to keep moving through it.