After a year of adjusting to new coaches and a new school, Pittsburg sophomore-to-be Aspen Duvall is spending a busy summer honing her skills in the two sports she loves-softball and basketball. She says she really doesn’t have a favorite sport-it’s whichever one is in season at the time. Moving from middle school to high school wasn’t the only change that Aspen had to make this past year.
“Probably the biggest adjustment for me wasn’t about going from middle school to high school. I moved from Hartshorne to Pittsburg my freshman year and so I had to adjust to a new school and new coaches and the way things were done, particularly in basketball,” said the happy-go-lucky Duvall who plays a guard spot in basketball and either second base or outfield in fast pitch and slow pitch softball. Though she’s just a sophomore, she’s got a pretty good idea of what she feels good character is all about in sports and in life.
“I think in athletics good character is about setting a good example and picking up your team even if you’re having a bad day. It’s very similar in life where I think character is always trying to help people out if they’re having a tough time.”
She started playing sports at a young age. She started with softball in youth T-ball leagues, took a break for awhile and then came back to it and in basketball got started in youth leagues. She has a couple of good examples in basketball she says. Her mom was a good player when she was young and was small but quick, much like Aspen and she also noted that enjoys watching U-Conn basketball standout Paige Bueckers whenever she gets a chance. Aspen got involved in rodeo as well when she was young, which was her dad’s sport growing up, from about three-years old until she was 11. But the every-weekend grind started interfering with her other sports, so she gave up the rodeo circuit. In her spare time, Aspen says she works mostly on her softball and basketball skills but has also been known to get the fishing pole out occasionally. A straight-A student, Aspen’s summer is filled with softball and basketball camps and playing on a travel basketball team out of Pittsburg as she anticipates her sophomore year as a Lady Panther.
