Nkolika Anosike, a self-described “role player” for the reigning NCAA champion Tennessee Lady Vols basketball team, stepped into a new role this fall as the 2008 NCAA Woman of the Year.
Anosike said the award was the best honor she has received, simply because it represents the balance being a student-athlete requires.
“The phrase ‘Woman of the Year’ means excellence,” she said. “It means being committed to both academics and athletics.”
Anosike has been fiercely committed to both. She completed a triple major in political science, legal studies and sociology while playing a crucial role in two national titles, one Southeastern Conference regular-season title and three SEC tournament championships during her Lady Vols career.
Beyond helping Tennessee women’s basketball put its stamp on NCAA history, Anosike believes the program has made a significant contribution to advancing women’s sports.
“We are probably the most televised women’s basketball team in the nation and perhaps in the history of women’s sports, which is huge for growing the game and the awareness of women’s sports overall,” she said.
The classroom and hardwood will continue to figure prominently in her future. She has been accepted into the Teach For America program, a national corps of college graduates who commit two years to teaching in urban and rural public schools, as a way of furthering her passion for leadership and desire to make a difference. Though she has deferred entering the program to pursue a professional basketball career, Anosike in the meantime plans to use her stature as an athlete to advocate for children living in poverty.
It is an issue that is important to Anosike, one of eight children raised by a single mother who came to the U.S. from Nigeria with just a sixth-grade education. For most of her life, Anosike recalls, the family lived on welfare and public assistance. But her mother has gone on to earn a college degree, become a registered nurse and move the family out of the projects.
As Anosike embraces her new role as the latest recipient of one of the NCAA’s most prestigious awards, she encouraged aspiring athletes, and particularly young women, to never doubt themselves.
“There are going to be people who tell you that you can’t do it, but if you work hard and set goals for yourself – and strive to achieve those goals – then just like me, you can make it to a school like the University of Tennessee,” she said.
The annual award recognizes female student-athletes who excel in academics, athletics, leadership and service. A representative committee selected the top 30 – 10 from each division – from 130 conference and independent nominees and then the nine finalists – three from each division. The NCAA Committee on Women’s Athletics selected Anosike from the nine finalists.
Woman of the Year Finalists