Five months after being named the Most Valuable Player in the girls division of NBA’s Basketball Without Borders Asia camp in June, hosted by India, 17-year-old Sanjana Ramesh has been rewarded for her performance with a full Division I basketball scholarship under the United States’ National Collegiate Athletic Association.
Sanjana is one of two players picked by the Northern Arizona University to play in the NCAA 2019-’20 season. She will head to Arizona in July for a summer course before joining officially in August. Sanjana is only the second Indian woman to receive an NCAA Division I basketball scholarship, after Kavita Akula in 2017.
While being picked for the scholarship is a dream come true for Sanjana, the last five months after the NBA camp weren’t the best for her. In July, less than a month after being named MVP at the NBA camp, Sanjana endured an anterior cruciate ligament tear to her knee while playing in the William Jones Cup, an international basketball tournament held in Chinese Taipei.
“I’m not exactly sure how it happened because it was all in the moment,” Sanjana told Scroll.in. “We were playing against New Zealand. I think I just twisted my knee and had a complete ACL tear.”
Because of the serious nature of her injury, Sanjana, who was picked in the Indian team for the Asian Games in August, had to give the prestigious event a miss. “I had surgery on August 1 and since then I have been studying for my Class 12 exams,” she said. “My rehab is still going on. I’ll start playing in a few months, probably after my boards.”
Sanjana used the downtime not only to prepare for her Class 12 exams, but also in the application process for the NCAA scholarship. “Luckily, the NBA Academy had organised a session informing us of the application procedures and how to contact coaches from different universities,” she said. “The university coaches then started contacting me, and I just picked a college then.”
One of the reasons Sanjana picked the Northern Arizona University was that the coaches she spoke to from there were very supportive regarding her injury. “I immediately felt a connection with them,” she said. “Even after my ACL injury, they motivated me a lot so I felt it was the best school to go to.”
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Currently studying commerce with mass media in junior college in Bengaluru, Sanjana hasn’t decided yet what course she wants to take up at the university but said she is leaning towards business administration and psychology.
“I am keeping my options open, I’ve got some time to decide” she said. “I’m also interested in journalism. I enjoy the hunt to find a story that hasn’t been covered. I’m also thinking of doing something crazy and take up criminology because I find it fascinating,” she added, laughing.
While Sanjana will move to the United States next year, she isn’t giving up on her India career just yet. Sanjana had captained the Indian team at the Under-16 Asia Cup last year, where they were undefeated in Division B and won promotion to Division A. Sanjana averaged 6.5 points and 7.0 rebounds per game during the tournament.
Sanjana’s goal during her stint in the NCAA is to improve her game as much as possible “so that India can go to the next level in basketball”. Her university has assured her she will be allowed to go play for India whenever required.
Sanjana’s ultimate goal is to play in the Women’s NBA, or WNBA. “It’s always been a dream,” she said. “It’s the highest standard of basketball and that’s where I want to be.”
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