Purdue basketball roster10/7/2023 ![]() ![]() They were working-class with five kids.”Īdd in the harsh reality of the pre-WNBA world of women’s professional basketball, and Julia let the basketball fire slowly simmer away. They just didn’t think about it that way. “My parents thought that basketball was just this recreational thing I did on the side…. “I thought to myself if I make this team, how am I going to afford a flight out to Halifax (Nova Scotia), and how are my parents going to feel about me not helping out at the restaurant for a month?” Julia Edey said. Then the big dilemma entered the back of Julia’s mind. When Julia reached ninth grade, she stood 5-foot-9, and high school coaches noticed the untapped potential in her game.īy the time Julia was 17, she found herself trying out in front of Canada’s junior national team coaches, competing against players up to 21 years old from around the country. Starting at the age of 12, Julia helped her father and grandfather around the restaurant on the weekends, and if there were no issues at school, there was a little time for basketball, too. Long before Zach Edey was a rising college basketball star, Julia had her own basketball dream.īorn in Toronto, Julia was one of five children in a self-described working-class household that prided itself on two things: their family-run local Chinese takeout restaurant and good grades in school. To fully understand Zach Edey, who he is, and why he is chasing this basketball dream, it all starts with Julia’s story. ![]() This past Saturday, Edey’s mother, Julia, sat in her normal seat, on edge and decked out as any fan in gold and black for Purdue’s convincing 82-76 victory over a talented Michigan team. I never really even had that.” The foundation “A lot of the people that come up through basketball are always told that they’re this, and that, and they are great, and it kind of changes them a little bit. “I have my friends that I’m really close with back at home that I’ve known ever since I was a little kid, they were my elementary school friends.” Edey (center) with childhood friends. “I am very similar to almost everyone” in college, Edey said. The spotlight of being one of the top players on arguably the country’s best team, however, is still new.Ĭatching up during downtime with buddies back up north? That’s much more normal. INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - At 7-foot-4 and a touch under 300 pounds, Purdue’s 19-year-old center Zach Edey is, remarkably, not much different than you and me.Įdey grew up in Toronto, which may as well be the North Pole to the college basketball-crazed superfans who this past weekend jammed into Purdue’s Mackey Arena for the program’s 37th consecutive sellout.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply.AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |