Taylor Barnes, In Her Words: Why I Chose Cal

Hey Cal fans! My name is Taylor Barnes and I’m a sophomore here at Cal Berkeley, also  a part of the women’s basketball team.

I was born and raised in Grand Prairie, Texas just twenty minutes south of Dallas and grew up very active in extracurriculars. Growing up, in addition to basketball, I played soccer, softball, volleyball, ran track, did gymnastics, and did dance. I was also in karate and took piano lessons for a bit as well.

Although I was involved in alot of activities, I gravitated more towards basketball because my dad played it and coached me at the YMCA/throughout my AAU career. I’d say overall I come from a pretty athletic family, my brother played football and attended Cornell, and my mom was a cheerleader, a part of the drill team, and briefly ran track.  

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High school was a very important stepping stone in my journey because I became really involved with not just athletics, but different academic programs and the community as well. In addition to that, I was lucky enough to attend high school with my closest friends and make alot of new/ongoing connections that I’ll forever be grateful for. Regarding athletics, some of the best memories I have included making the varsity basketball team as a freshman, playing in the state championship twice, signing day, and most of all, the bus rides to away games and roadtrips/hotel stays with my best friends.

Academically, I was inducted into the National Honor Society as a junior, and became president of NHS at my high school as a senior. Not only did I enjoy being a part of the honor society, but being able to lead it was very fulfilling as well. I enjoyed giving back to the community and putting on events for people to engage in around our school.

One of my favorite memories from honor society is when we had to tutor some kids at an after-school program and got to play basketball with them. Being in that role allowed me to gain leadership and communication skills that will carry over not only on the court, but in everyday life as well.

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Since academics have always been just as important to me as basketball, if not more, finding a school that catered to both needs equally was a number one priority. I also wanted to go somewhere that would challenge me and allow me to grow, not only as an athlete, but as an individual as well. Fortunately, Cal checked off both of those boxes and then some.

I’m super grateful to Coach Charmin and her staff for not only providing me with this opportunity, but for trusting me as a player and genuinely wanting to see me develop. The support goes beyond the court, as Coach Charmin and the rest of the staff are not only invested in us as people, but take pride in giving back to the community.

I witnessed this investment this past season as I faced some adversity of my own after an ankle injury that forced me to miss half of our conference games. Luckily, my rehab process went very smoothly and I was able to compete in our postseason games. This was due to the support from my trainers and coaches as they were intentionally focused on my health and making a full recovery rather than being rushed back into competitive play before I was properly healed.  

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A lot of my motivation as a student-athlete comes from my faith in God and my career aspirations. I’m interested in pursuing a career in medicine as either a surgeon or physician and I feel like a lot of the habits I’m practicing as a student-athlete are applicable to the journey I’ll have when becoming a doctor, such as a good work ethic, discipline, and perseverance.

As for my faith, I grew up going to church and as I’ve continued to grow my relationship with Christ, it’s been instilled in me that as long as I keep God first, everything else in my life will fall into place and work out how it’s supposed to.  

As for this upcoming season, I’m super excited and ready to start competing. I believe every person from our team can bring something to the table, and we have a budding chemistry that will only continue to grow as the season progresses, which will be exciting to watch.

With that being said, we need all of our fans to show up and show out this year.

Go Bears!