Lala’s recipe to success

By Zach Hernandez Reporter

Being a captain of a college basketball team comes with big responsibility. Your job is to be a great player, a great teammate, and most importantly, a great leader.

Lala Lautaimi, one of the captains of Skyline’s women’s basketball team, has proven to be a fantastic leader for her team, and she has garnered tons of love from her coach and her teammates.

Lautaimi started playing basketball in middle school, and that’s when she fell in love with the game. As a competitive player, striving to win games has always been her goal, and it’s her favorite part of playing basketball.

“My favorite part of the game is just winning,” Lautaimi said. “I kind of hate losing.”

Tatiana Newsome, another captain on this team, knows how well-rounded a player Lautaimi is. Sharing the court with her for two years gave her a first-hand experience of watching her play the game at an elite level.

“Lala did great this season,” Newsome said. “She’s always done great. She’s a hustler, a great rebounder, and she can block shots. People are scared to drive in on her.”

The skills that Lautaimi possesses make her a target for other teams to try and stop. After having a fantastic fresh - man season, teams attempted to formulate a game plan that would prevent her from being as effective. Being the great player she is, she still found a way to influence the game and lead her team to success.

Chris Watters, the coach of this squad, spoke on this and how Lautaimi was able to overcome these obstacles in her way.

“She had an outstanding year as a freshman, and in some ways, that makes it more difficult to come back and have another great year as a sophomore,” Watters said. “Every opponent was able to game plan to stop her and focus on her, but she’s done a great job of finding new ways to score and finding new ways to impact the game.”

Adjusting is a major aspect of the game of basketball. Lautaimi perfected that craft when opponents would throw unexpected game plans her way. She has done a phenomenal job of disallowing that from affecting her overall influence on the game.

Being able to dominate a basketball game in many different ways is what makes Lautaimi stand out from other players.

“As a basketball player, I would describe her as dynamic,”

When good relationships are formed amongst teammates, playing the game together feels more fluid. Over the course of the year, this team has grown together and boosted different aspects of their game.

“I think one thing that we do really well as a team is our adaptability,” Watters said. “We’re able to adapt and adjust to different opponents and change the way we play. That allows us to have some contributions from everybody. Every player, as an individual, has helped us win a game this year.” her play style so well.”

Highs and lows are prevalent in any sports team’s journey. How you carry yourself through the highs and how you react and push through the lows can determine how your season will end up. This team had a roller coaster of a year, but they kept fighting all the way until the end.

This is not a team that I would want to play against come playoff time.

As a leader of this basketball club, Lautaimi is a prime example of how to fulfill that role perfectly. Her teammates recognize that, her coaches recognize that, and anybody who watches her play recognizes that.

She will be continuing her basketball journey after Skyline, although she is uncertain of where that will be at the moment. However, no matter where she ends up, she will continue to shine as a player, a teammate, a leader, and a person.

Watters said. “She can do things that other players at our level are not capable of doing.”

Her teammates fully recognize this, and they know how crucial her all-around skill is to the team’s success.

“She’s such a versatile player,” Angela Olivé, a teammate of Lautaimi, said. “She can drive, and she can post. She’s lengthy, and she’s fast and quick.”

Lautaimi doesn’t just shine on the court, however. Off the court, she is a great leader, a great friend, and a great person.

“Her spirit, in general, is just so good,” Olivé said. “It matches