{"id":4264,"date":"2022-02-24T15:10:00","date_gmt":"2022-02-24T15:10:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/?p=4264"},"modified":"2022-02-24T15:10:00","modified_gmt":"2022-02-24T15:10:00","slug":"wilberforce-university-seniors-represent-at-the-nba-all-star-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/2022\/02\/24\/wilberforce-university-seniors-represent-at-the-nba-all-star-game\/","title":{"rendered":"Wilberforce University Seniors Represent at the NBA All Star Game"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
E’taja Thompson<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Special to The Truth<\/strong><\/p>\n

When E\u2019taja Thompson, Wilberforce University, \u201822 says basketball is in her blood \u2013 she is speaking figuratively, of course. But if you stretch your imagination, her declaration about her love for the game could be taken literally.<\/p>\n

E\u2019taja, a small forward on the WU women\u2019s team, was introduced to the game at age three, when her mom, Tanya Ford-Baker, tossed a basketball to her for the first time. \u00a0No stranger to the game, Ford-Baker saw plenty of roundball action as a member of the Trotwood Madison High School girls\u2019 team in the early 90s. And years later, E\u2019taja\u2019s older brother Eric Thompson would develop skills that have now taken him to play professionally in eastern Europe.<\/p>\n

But now, it\u2019s E\u2019taja\u2019s turn to move into the next level of basketball. The senior business marketing major spent the weekend of February 18 \u2013 20 working with the NBA at the All Star game in Cleveland, Ohio. She and WU senior LaDarryl Hardy have been selected to represent Wilberforce at the NBA\u2019s All Star Game college internship camp. For three days, they experienced what it\u2019s like to move about the business end of professional basketball.<\/p>\n

\"\"
LaDarryl Hardy<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI hope to connect with some of the players,\u201d she said before the weekend. \u201cI also want to see how things operate on a day to day basis.\u201d<\/p>\n

When applying for the internship, LaDarryl and E\u2019Taja were asked to explain why they were interested in being part of the professional basketball weekend. For her, the response was easy. \u201cSince I am an athlete, I want to know what happens once a basketball career is over, and still be connected to the game in some way.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said she noticed how Trotwood High School (Trotwood, OH) and University of Dayton basketball star Chris Wright favored his connections after leaving the NBA to become an entrepreneur.<\/p>\n

As a Trotwood grad, she wants to emulate Wright\u2019s pattern to carve her career path after college. In the meantime, this weekend will play an important role in how she moves forward after the Wilberforce commencement in May.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would have never imagined this would happen. This is a dream come true
\nand I\u2019m blessed to have this opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Special to The Truth When E\u2019taja Thompson, Wilberforce University, \u201822 says basketball is in her blood \u2013 she is speaking figuratively, of course. But if you stretch your imagination, her declaration about her love for the game could be taken literally. E\u2019taja, a small forward on the WU women\u2019s team, was introduced to the game […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"wf_post_folders":[108],"class_list":["post-4264","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-education"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4264","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4264"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4264\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4267,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4264\/revisions\/4267"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4264"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4264"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4264"},{"taxonomy":"wf_post_folders","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wf_post_folders?post=4264"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}