Being a student-athlete is challenging: In addition to managing an architecture degree and a psychology minor, senior guard Simone Sawyer has basketball practice six days a week all while traveling to compete on weekends.
“So you’re constantly thinking about basketball, sleeping and waking up, and [I’m] thinking about what play I need to run, and the new play we put in last week, and where I’m supposed to be,” Sawyer said.
Sawyer grew up in a family where sports was a way of life. Her father played baseball at Creighton, and her two older sisters were involved in a range of sports since they were young. As the youngest sibling, she always followed her siblings, influenced by watching them compete in their respective sports. While she tried her hand at volleyball, soccer, and swimming, basketball always came naturally to Sawyer, even when she was young.
“I remember she was so much better than all the other kids that they had to put the parents in there to try to stop her from scoring and try to make it a little bit difficult for her,” said Aleeya Sawyer, Simone’s older sister, describing Simone’s experience playing at a basketball league when she was seven years old.
At Penn, Sawyer transitioned from being the youngest sibling at home to an older sister and mentor to the younger girls on the team.
“I’m the youngest in my family of sisters, my sisters mentored me … besides, like my Barbie dolls, I’m not used to telling you what to do,” Sawyer said.
As a senior, she is embracing the new role as a leader, especially as one of the team’s captains this year. With five different captains on the team, each plays a different role. Sawyer describes herself as more of a quiet leader.
“I’m definitely, I think, a captain that people can come to and talk to, whether they’re having some challenges on or off the court,” Sawyer said.
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Her leadership style stems from her personable nature and maturity from growing through various challenges – including mental health struggles – during her time at Penn basketball.
“I think she has this kind of aura about her where people gravitate towards her, and she’s always very kind, like sure of herself, too,” Aleeya Sawyer said.
“She’s not someone that’s going to rally the group around her all the time. She will [too], but I think she feels confident who she is and where she’s come from and it shows.” coach Mike McLaughlin said.
Sawyer spent the summer before her last season in Philadelphia preparing with her teammate and closest friend, junior center Tina Njike. According to Njike, the goal was to “lock in, and just try to work out as hard as we could.”
Their efforts were worth it, as Sawyer — and Njike — are both having the best seasons of their collegiate careers. In addition to averaging the most points and rebounds per game of her career, Sawyer also leads the Ivy League in free-throw percentage. Her speed and defensive abilities make her an essential part of the team, which currently sits just one spot behind the cutoff for postseason play.
Regardless of whether the team ends up in Ivy Madness, the games Sawyer has left for the Red and Blue are numbered. She’s currently in the middle of applying to graduate schools, but her top choice is clear — Penn. That would allow her to stay in Philadelphia, the city she has fallen in love with, for a few more years.
The architecture major and psychology minor is looking at graduate programs in mental health and counseling, aiming to eventually work in psychiatry. Her interest in psychology is connected to another off-court venture: her clothing business, Mo Mind Matters. Sawyer founded the business to raise awareness for mental health following her own struggles during her first years at Penn. It has given her the chance to explore who she is outside of basketball and academics, an experience she’s especially grateful for now that her basketball career is coming to an end.
“I think for my whole life, it’s always been basketball, basketball, basketball. And you know, it’s going to come to an end in a month, and I don’t want to sit there and be like, oh, what else am I [other] than a basketball player?” Sawyer said. “I’ve kind of found myself through that.”
Although Sawyer is grateful for all that the game has given her, she is equally as ready to leave basketball behind in a few months, regardless of this season’s outcome.
“I do have to figure out what I’m gonna do to stay in shape. I don’t know what I’m gonna do. Maybe yoga,” Sawyer joked.
“The wins are great and winning tournaments and all of that, but at the end of the day, the friendships are going to be what lasts, because you’re not gonna play basketball forever.”
