The women’s Final 8 national basketball tournament was held at UBC for the first time from March 13–16, bringing together the best teams in the country for a three-day championship where only the University of Saskatchewan Huskies would leave victorious.
Most people would be intimidated by such notable competition on their home turf, but not UBC guard Olivia Weekes.
“It adds to the pressure a bit, but I think pressure is a privilege,” she said. “It makes us want to work harder for our end goal, [which is] obviously to get a national championship this year.”
Born in Winnipeg, the fourth-year Arts student was five years old when she started playing basketball, influenced by her dad, who also played the sport in college.
During primary and secondary school, Weekes split her time between basketball, handball, club volleyball and track and field, but had to give some of them up when she got older and had less time to play competitively. Basketball was the obvious option when it came time for her to choose.
“[It] was my main focus,” she said.
Adapting from high school to university basketball was difficult for Weekes, especially after missing her entire senior session due to COVID-19.
“I was still pretty skinny throughout high school, and [I wasn’t] able to develop in my senior year,” said Weekes. “And then coming into university I hadn’t been playing basketball for a year and a half, so it was definitely a tough transition.”
Weekes eventually overcame her struggles to become one of the stars of the UBC squad, averaging 24 minutes played and 11 points scored per game in her senior season. She also recently surpassed 1,000 points scored in her college career.
But Weekes isn’t too focused on statistics, having only learned about her feat many days after it happened.
“[I’m] really focused on the end goal and building something [to] look back on and feel accomplished as a team,” she said. “It’s about facilitating good opportunities on the floor for my team.”
During Weekes’s process of being recruited by UBC, what truly made a difference was seeing her teammates’ relationships with each other.
“Everything was done on Zoom, so I didn’t actually get to see the campus at all,” said Weekes. “But the main thing that stuck out to me were the teammates, and that made the decision pretty easy for me ... seeing how close everybody was on the team and how much all the girls said they enjoyed [playing for UBC].”
Beyond her teammates, Weekes highlighted the community and support she found as a Thunderbird.
“I’ve built a lot of really good relationships and friendships through basketball and the UBC varsity community is super tight,” she said. “Building a lot of friendships through that definitely shaped me as a person for the better.”
As her university career nears its end, Weekes is considering her options for the future.
“I think that’d be an awesome experience, getting to go overseas and play somewhere,” she said. “I definitely could not see myself not playing basketball anymore.”
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