Basketball, Flag Football
Favorite athlete: Kyrie Irving
Favorite team: Not much of a fan for any team but the 76ers.
Favorite memory competing in sports: In my first game my freshman year, I shot a deep 3 and made it. It was against our rival Pennsbury, and it was my first time touching the ball.
Most embarrassing/funniest moment competing in sports: This year while we were in a game on defense my teammate and I crashed into each other. It was so funny to watch back and see how we both dropped down and popped up so fast.
Music on playlist: I love anything under the sun except country. Mostly listen to R&B, more specifically Brent Faiyaz
Future plans: Go to college and play basketball and major in nursing. Hopefully to end up as a pediatric nurse.
Favorite motto: “What you’re not changing, you’re choosing.”
One goal before turning 30: To impact people’s lives
One thing people don’t know about me: I played football for three years.
B y Mary Jane Souder
Every athlete has a story to tell. Camryn Rodriguez’s is a bit more unusual than most.
To sum it up, the Neshaminy senior was cut from the basketball team in eighth grade, tried out again as a freshman, made the team, took her sophomore year off, came back her junior year and struggled.
It would have been easy and probably made sense if Rodriguez had opted to walk away from basketball, but she didn’t. Instead, she put her nose to the grindstone and worked hard in the offseason. She is now a contributor on the varsity, coming off the bench but getting starters minutes.
“I didn’t know what to expect from her coming into her senior year,” Neshaminy coach John Gallagher said. “After her junior year, I was like, ‘I don’t know if she’s going to be able to do anything.’ Then June came, and I’m like, ‘All right, she’s doing better,’ and then it just exploded for her.
“Rebounding-wise, she’s our leading rebounder per minutes played. She’s really tough around the basket. I haven’t utilized her that much from the outside, but we just got out of practice, and she hit a bunch of shots for us during our scrimmage and our breakdown drills, so she has the range.”
It’s certainly not what Gallagher expected after a junior year that was tough sailing for Rodriguez.
“Her junior year she really lost a lot from what was going on after her freshman year as far as ability, and she didn’t play really any varsity minutes at all,” the Redskins’ coach said. “She contributed well on the JV again.
“Over the summer she put in a ton of work. She just got better and better and stronger and stronger. She went to a lot of elite camps for Division II and IIIs, and I would get calls or texts from coaches saying, ‘This kid’s really doing good.’ I didn’t know what to expect from her coming into her senior year.”
Rodriguez acknowledged it was not easy.
“My junior year, it was hard getting back because – one, the team I left was not the team I came back to,” she said. “It was a barrier getting to know a whole new group of people and also now being an upperclassman when I’ve only had a year under my belt.
“I felt like a young kid coming in to the older kids, but I really was the older kid. I had to step up to the plate a lot, and I was there but wasn’t at the same time. It was just a very rough period. Coming home from practices junior year, I was like, ‘I don’t even know what I’m doing. I’m just not seizing what I could be seizing.’”
A postseason exit interview was the beginning of a change in mindset for Rodriguez.
“We talked about everything,” she said. “The best thing I got from one of my coaches as a speech was – I’m a real team player, and I’m just a kid that gets everyone talking.”
Some might have taken that as a compliment. Rodriguez was not in that number.
“It kind of hurt because I wanted to be known for how I was doing at basketball,” she said. “So, I was like, ‘Camryn, do you want to play basketball seriously?’ I was like, ‘Well, this is a sport I love, and I really want to dedicate myself,’ so I had to spend the entire summer just playing.”
And so began a successful journey back to a sport she loves.
Basketball a first love
When it came to sports, basketball was a clear winner for Rodriguez.
“My family has always been athletic, especially my dad and brothers,” she said. “My dad played basketball in high school, my
brother played in high school, but nobody ever went to college to play or anything, but it was always something we all could bond over.”
Despite her passion for the sport, Rodriguez never played organized basketball. Instead, she played tackle football for three years, beginning in seventh grade.
“There was the barrier of being the only girl, having to go to the girls’ locker room and sprint across school to get to practice,” she said. “Growing up I’ve always been a girl that hung out with the guys.
“I played football since seventh grade, and in eighth grade, I was like – why am I not playing basketball? The football season was still going for us, and I missed the tryouts, but the football coach was the JV basketball coach at the middle school, and he was like, ‘Oh, I’ll just put in a word with the head coach to see if you can try out.’”
Rodriguez was given the okay to try out.
“I came to tryouts, and he’s like, ‘Uh, Camryn, I’m not going to lie…’ and he basically kind of said no,” she said. “I was like, ‘Oh, so I didn’t make it?’ He said, ‘No, I just don’t think you have the skill or talent.’
“Growing up, I was always the girl that everybody was like, ‘Oh, I want Cam on my team because she’s the girl that can hoop.’ So, I always thought – guys, I can play basketball, and to get shut down like that, it was kind of heartbreaking and disappointing.”
Despite the disappointment, Rodriguez opted to try out again as a freshman.
“They were like, ‘You have a pretty strong base. You haven’t played basketball before?’ she said. “I’m like, ‘No, not really.’”
According to Gallagher, Rodriguez showed definite potential playing for the JV as a freshman.
“By the end of the year, she clearly was our leading scorer on the team,” the Redskins’ coach said.
Rodriguez – despite a successful freshman season – opted to not play basketball her sophomore year.
“I was really interested in getting a car, and I didn’t think it would be right for me to try and balance basketball with a job,” she said. “I couldn’t fully commit myself as much as I wanted to for basketball.”
It didn’t take long for Rodriguez to realize how much she loved and missed the sport.
“Basketball has been something that has followed me so much in my life, and I was honestly like – ‘I really love this game, and I need to go back to it,’” she said. “It’s been my sport, it’s been my quiet place. It was something I’ve always reverted to. At first, I was like basketball is just basketball, but then I was like – I couldn’t imagine my life without it.”
A difficult junior season made Rodriguez more determined to put in the work to ensure there would be no reruns her senior year.
“I was like, ‘Camryn, do you want to play basketball seriously?’” she said. “I was like, ‘Well, this is a sport I love, and I really want to dedicate myself,’ so I had to spend the entire summer just playing.
“I did AAU, which was something I really needed. I’d never played AAU before, so doing that kind of opened my senses to basketball outside of school. Also, I was just going to the gym every day. It was me playing basketball, me getting up shots, me watching basketball and trying to replicate it. It was just those lonely hours, really.”
Rodriguez – who plays for Neshaminy’s flag football team in the spring - is reaping the dividends, seeing quality minutes for the Redskins and also getting attention from college coaches.
A bright future
An excellent student, Rodriguez has always placed a high priority on academics.
“School has always been a foundation,” she said. “My mom and dad expressed to me ‘Camryn, no matter what, school is important.
“So even though we had basketball practice going until 8 o’clock, I’d go to the gym afterwards. I’ve always been a gym head. The gym has been another home to me, and after that, I still stay up and do homework, making sure my grades are on point.”
Rodriguez has her sights set on playing collegiate basketball and pursuing a nursing major.
“My junior year I was sitting there thinking, ‘Camryn, we’re growing up. What do we think we’re going to be?’” she said. “You have the little dumb things as a kid – like astronaut, cop, whatever it is.
“I’m like, ‘Well, I want to make an impact.’ That’s always been my biggest thing. No matter what I do, I want to help people. I want to change lives. I want to put smiles on people’s faces, so I was like – what’s a great way to do that? Being a doctor doesn’t sound bad, but I’m like, ‘Well, I don’t know if I can go through all that schooling.’ I’m like, ‘Wait, there’s nurses.’ I looked into it, and it’s just lined up, and this seems like the best possible route for me.”
For now, Rodriguez is focused on her final high school season – the only senior on a young team.
“She actually got her first start of the year in Wildwood over the Christmas holidays because Grace Weyler turned her ankle,” Gallagher said. “Against Bishop Loughlin, she had the winning basket for us.
“She relates to the freshmen all the way up to the juniors. As the only senior, she understands her role. She’s the most vocal on the team, and the relationship she has with the freshmen, the sophomores and juniors is very solid. She’s really enjoyed all the kids.”
“The girls are amazing,” Rodriguez said. “We’re like a family now. Coming in this year - if I can give even a little bit to the team, it means so much to me because there’s always been a good team at Neshaminy, Gal’s always been a good coach, and there’s always been a strong base.
“And now the fact that I can give something to that and make my teammates play better or even just bring a new light to the court means absolutely so much to me.”
