LAFAYETTE, La. (AP) - In sports, there are athletes who are considered late bloomers, competitors who develop their skills late in the game.
Megan Abrams is not one of them. She has been blooming since her feet were first planted on a basketball court, and much of that credit goes to her dad.
About to begin her senior year at Lafayette Christian Academy, Abrams has been a can’t-miss basketball prospect from the time she was 6.
In the fourth grade, she played at the sixth-grade level in the Amateur Athletic Union, better known as AAU; in the fifth grade, she played on the seventh-grade team; in the sixth, she played with the eighth-graders and has played up ever since.
But her life isn’t a slam dunk.
She transferred high schools in the middle of the 2016-17 school year, moving from St. Thomas More to Lafayette Christian Academy. Louisiana transfer rules cost her a calendar year - the latter half of the 2016 season and the beginning of the 2017 campaign - but she had little choice.
The transfer wasn’t about basketball. It was about cancer.
Billy Abrams, her father and biggest fan, the one who drove her daily from the north side to St. Thomas More, was headed for his third surgery to remove gastrointestinal stromal tumors from his stomach. And LCA was only five minutes from the Abrams’ home.
“I found out about my illness in 2015. I had my first surgeries in 2016, another in 2017, then months of treatment,” said Billy Abrams, public information officer for the University of Louisiana at Lafayette Police Department. “In a nutshell, my primary concern for my daughter was the hardship, and we had more support closer to home than driving to STM. It made more sense.”
As a member of the UL-Lafayette police, 54-year-old Billy Abrams has an understanding of what young adults go through.
“The decision was difficult because Megan was already established. I thought about AAU, worried she couldn’t play because I couldn’t drive her,” he said. “The first thing I said was, ’I wonder how many games I’m going to miss.’ “
He added: “You don’t think about yourself. You think about your kid.”
Coaches Kenny Lee Jr. and Tonya Morrison, of Louisiana Select Basketball, were supportive.
“It was like a burden was lifted,” said Billy Abrams. “I didn’t have to worry. She got to play the game she loved, and other parents videoed for me.”
But things had changed.
“During that summer, it was different, always looking up in the stands and not seeing him there,” said Megan Abrams. “LCA was different people, and even though I’ve known a lot of the neighborhood girls since I was little, it was different.”
Before undergoing surgery, Billy Abrams turned to his wife, Mary, and told her she’d have to take up the slack.
“She brought the camera to the hospital to learn how to use it. She did better than me,” he recalled with a laugh.
Megan Abrams, whose Twitter handle is @MegTheBaller, is sporting a red, white and blue Adidas USA Selection Team jacket today. The 17-year-old guard is the only Louisiana player on the list released on Jan. 10, the same day as her first eligible game after her transfer to LCA.
“It’s funny. I didn’t have a cellphone, so coaches and contacts were sent to my dad’s number. He missed the call. J.C. Hall, of Adidas, had to leave a message,” she said, laughing.
“We called back and couldn’t get him,” said Billy Abrams. “We went into this tizzy.”
Megan Abrams left with the Adidas team on June 10 for Italy, where games will be played in Rome and Venice against those teams. She faces new rules in the game - the 3-point line is farther back and there’s a shot clock, which isn’t the case for high school. Even so, she’s confident.
“Adidas (already) flew us to Dallas to practice for a weekend,” she said.
Although he won’t be able to accompany her due to continuing medical treatment, Billy Abrams says he’ll manage to follow along.
“I’ve recorded her games since she was 6. I have 5 terabytes of video,” he said, “and Adidas will stream the games.”
Just before leaving for Italy, Megan Abrams made her college plans known. She says she’s headed to the University of Alabama.
She wants to major in sports broadcasting and play professionally. Her father, who admitted to being her hardest taskmaster, is making sure she does the work to achieve those goals.
“I’m a realist,” he said. “If she says ’I’m going to practice in the morning,’ I say, ’What about the afternoon?’ I don’t think of it as fussing at her, just pointing things out.”
Both recall the time he coached Biddy Basketball.
“It was interesting,” she recalled with a smile. “He put me on the bench.”
As they face separate challenges on and off the court, father and daughter continue to be each other’s coach. It’s just that it’s Billy Abrams’ turn to be on the bench - for now.
“What’s inspiring to me as a dad is what I saw Megan endure,” he said. “I’d ask how are you doing, and she’d put my mind at ease. She never missed a beat. And whether she wins or loses, it’s the same love.”
You get the feeling both have already won.
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