Interview with Katie Fiso and Zoe Ozretich: 

Q: What sport do you play and how long have you played it? 

Zoe: I have been playing soccer since I was in first grade. They kind of just gather up any children they can find and put them on a team with fun names, so I was on the sirens in the McGilvra soccer league. 

Katie: I play basketball and I’ve been playing basketball since the fourth grade.

Q: How big of a time commitment is your sport in terms of practices and training. 

Zoe: It’s a pretty big commitment. There are practices during the summer and then tryouts at the end of August.[We have] those for like three days and then you go straight into hour and a half practices on weekdays when there isn’t one of the two games we have per week. 

Katie: It’s a big time commitment. Right after school I have a three hour practice. I don’t get home until 10.

Q: What’s your greatest accomplishment in your sport? 

Zoe: For me personally, I got the MVP for this year so I was really proud of that, I worked really hard for it. Also, overall, we were just playing really well as a team, and we mesh well together. 

Katie: Definitely just getting an offer. Not paying for college is a blessing and I think that’s everyone’s end goal playing basketball. (Katie has offers from Oregon, WSU, UW, Cal, Alabama, Oregon St, Arizona, Ohio St, Vanderbilt and more).

Q: What’s the biggest life lesson you’ve learned from your sport? 

Zoe: I would say perseverance because it takes a lot to commit that much time and effort especially when things aren’t going your way like when we’re losing, to keep fighting our hardest for that win. Also I’ve been injured so it’s really hard to get the confidence and motivation to get better so that I can go back to playing soccer. 

Katie: I would definitely say the biggest life lesson would be that not everyone is perfect. I feel like younger me struggled with always trying to perform and just be perfect for everyone but in reality not everyone’s perfect. There’s gonna be bad games there’s gonna be good games and there’s a lot of highs and lows to this game but never get too high never get too low, that’s my motto.

Q: Who is a role model that inspires your game? 

Zoe: On JVC last year, Carlos, my coach, he was amazing. He was very strict with us but it really helped us get better and he pushed us to be our best the whole season. 

Katie: I’d say my coach Mo Hines. He’s been there for me since the start so I definitely want to give him a big shoutout.

Q: What’s your go-to pre-game meal?

Zoe: I probably would just eat anything I could find but like hours before, so my stomach doesn’t get upset. Maybe mac and cheese from amazon fresh on a school day. 

Katie: My go to pregame meal gotta be some Eggo waffles. Eggo waffles with some apple sauce on them.

Q: What are your goals for improvement in the future? 

Zoe: I think I’m just going to try to get tactically better with my touch and moves. 

Katie: Definitely inspiring the younger generation to come. Just to show them that girls can really do it too and making an impact on the community and giving back to the community and obviously playing at the d1 level of college basketball.

Q: Would you skip Purple and White for practice? 

Zoe: Absolutely. 

Katie: You know I would, I would,  I’d definitely skip Purple and White.