Atonye Nyingifa is always smiling.
While running wind sprints in practice, the smile races by, sideline to sideline, in a blur. In games, the smile could be misconstrued as softness until she plows her way through two defenders for the offensive rebound and two points.
For five years, that smile has been a front for the fierce competitiveness that Nyingifa brings to the table.
“One of her best qualities is that she is so competitive, she just loves to compete,” said coach Cori Close. “I don’t care what sport it is, if you’re playing spades or if you’re having hot shot competition or whatever, she wants to find a way to win and she just loves it.”
Now the 22-year-old senior enters her sixth year as a forward for the UCLA women’s basketball team, and behind the smile will still be the same ever-burning and ever-flowing competitive fire. But it’ll also try to mask something else, a burden to juggle a variety of responsibilities most student-athletes could not imagine.
Nyingifa will be suiting up in her sixth year after tearing both her ACLs two and a half years apart. Her left knee gave out in the summer of 2009, after her freshman season; the right knee fell victim in December of 2011.
But with the extra time, Nyingifa graduated with a double major in sociology and gender studies and a minor in education. Now she’s pursuing her graduate degree in Afro-American studies with a concentration in psychology at UCLA, an uncommon path for student-athletes, Nyingifa said.
“I figured it was the best opportunity for me just all-around person wise. I didn’t want my main focus in life just to be always about basketball,” Nyingifa said. “I wanted to have some kind of diversity to me, to have fulfillment.”
With graduate school and basketball, Nyingifa said that her life has gotten a little more hectic and a bit more demanding.
As an undergraduate, Nyingifa would make the horrendously long commute on the 405 every week to visit her family in Torrance. Now with her graduate program and seemingly never-ending meetings, Nyingifa doesn’t have the time, especially with her duties on the basketball team.
After watching four seniors graduate last year, Nyingifa and fellow senior Thea Lemberger will take on the leadership roles left to them by their predecessors.
“It’s always a nice feeling to feel like you can have a positive influence on the team and to be looked upon to have a certain standard that you’re being held to and to be able to hold yourself to that standard,” Lemberger said.
While there are two seniors on the team, the unquestioned leader is Nyingifa, who everyone calls T, a nickname she gave herself after having her name butchered too many times in elementary and middle school.
Earlier in the year, the Bruins held a team-building session. When everyone was asked one by one who the leader on the team was, the unanimous answer was Nyingifa.
“It’s something that you can’t describe, but everyone looks to her,” Close said. “She’s been one of our most consistent and productive players over her time here, coming back from two injuries, coming back better, seeing her growth in leadership; she commands the team and she just has their respect.”
Over the course of six years at UCLA, Nyingifa has run through a gauntlet of different experiences, both good and bad. The two ACL tears have been the lowest points, but a now-older Nyingifa views them in a more positive light.
“Now that I’m 22, I feel that it’s only been a blessing. How many people get the opportunity to do what I’m doing? At the time, I was obviously very sad about it, being 18 years old, torn ACL, first year in college, especially after the good season we had – I was torn,” Nyingifa said. “But now that I look back on the injuries, it’s kind of built me into the person I am today.”
Today, Nyingifa is a mentor to her younger teammates, an inspiration for what she’s been able to overcome and might accomplish.
Early this season, the team watched two teammates, sophomore guard Kari Korver and junior forward Kacy Swain, succumb to ACL injuries in practice. They’ve told Nyingifa that she’s been their inspiration for getting back on the court.
“It’s very difficult; it’s a lot of grind, a lot of time and a lot of hours,” Lemberger said. “She’s went through two injuries, two tough injuries, so that’s a lot of rehab time, so we respect that.”
Being an inspirational figure is a full-time job; it doesn’t end when she steps off the court. Nyingifa’s pursuit of a graduate degree has gotten two teammates interested in the unique direction.
“It’s crazy because most people don’t think, ‘Let me apply for graduate school,’ because they think it’s a lot on their plate, but if I can show people that they can do it – it’s stressful, but you can do it – then I think they’re more willing to try to start,” Nyingifa said.
Nyingifa said that she can sense her transformation into a role model for her younger teammates, but being a role model comes with added pressure, especially with graduate school.
“The main stressor for me is that for my program, you have to have a B or better to pass,” Nyingifa said. “So if I get a B-minus, what does that say to my teammates when I can’t play because technically that’s a fail?”
The NCAA requires student-athletes to pass six credit hours each term. This fall, Nyingifa is taking three classes for 12 units so a B-minus in two classes could spell trouble for her eligibility.
No exceptions have been made for players in Nyingifa’s situation. So for now, she said that she will be working to get As in all her classes while juggling the responsibilities of co-captain and role model.
“It is overwhelming, but if I quit, I know that I’m going to say that I didn’t get over this hurdle or this obstacle, so I keep that in mind. When I graduate here, one of my dreams is going to come true regardless if it’s playing in the WNBA, being a psychologist or even getting a job in a big corporation,” Nyingifa said. “If I can get through this, which is tough in day-to-day struggle, then I think I can make it through pretty much anything, so I keep my focus on the grind.”
When Nyingifa’s career at UCLA comes to a close, no matter which avenue she ultimately chooses, one thing’s for sure: She’ll be doing it with a smile.