Yosepha "YoYo" Greenfield , who trained with Robert Icart in the summer, is a big part of the BTI family. She is also the niece of Ed White Jr., who also played with BTI and now plays in Ireland.

The 5‘5" Junior guard hails from Harvard-Westlake high school in the Los Angeles area. YoYo, who is now the starting point guard at Yale University, tells how her experience at Yale has been nothing short of amazing.

As anyone could imagine, the transition academically to the Ivy League is challenging to say the least. The demands of being a student athlete would probably make it that much more challenging. But for some, challenges can be fun!

When asked what the biggest difference from High School to College was, YoYo replied:

“The biggest difference between high school and college ball is the physical strength of the players. I've always been small at 5'4 and petite in comparison to other players but it is definitely more noticeable now. It is not so much the height but rather the muscle and strength of players. The adjustment was much more difficult defensively than offensively. In high school, I could rely on my quickness to guard people whereas now I really have to under-stand angles and anticipate the offensive player's next move with the ball. Another difference is the preparation for games. We spend hours watching film, going over the other team's plays, and game days are literally an all day thing.”

Continuing on, I asked YoYo what makes the Ivy League so special? Was it a good fit for her? INDEED it was!

“I loooove Yale. It was the perfect school for me. Unfortunately the professors don't really cut you any slack for being an athlete which can be really tough (unless you have a cool professor). Balancing academics and athletics is really challenging especially when non-athletes (we call them normies) have nothing but time to spend on schoolwork. We also have a lot of fun at school. For the most part, the athletic and non-athletic people are pretty separated and "cliquey".

Lastly, I raised the question of how she felt attending such a prestigious school in Yale University.

“At times I don't feel like I am surrounded by the smartest, most brilliant people in America because I'm always hanging out with the athletes who are extremely normal people. On the other hand, I am blown away at the genius comments people make in class some-times. Going to an Ivy League school was the perfect choice for me. It is a perfect balance of doing what I love playing basketball, but it does not consume my life (even though it feels like it during season).”

For Yoyo, even though the schedule of a student athlete at Yale can seem over-whelming at times, it is still exciting and she wouldn‘t have it any other way.

Yoyo Greenfield

The Life of a student athlete

A typical week schedule for a student athlete:

Monday

10:30 - 2pm Class

3:00 pm - get treatment/taped/do rehab in the training room

3:45 pm - film

4:30 pm - practice

6:45 pm - lift

Tuesday

10:30 - 2pm Class

5:30 pm - training room

6:15 pm - meeting

7 pm - practice

10 pm - leave the gym

Wednesday

Same as Monday

Thursday

6:30 am practice

Lift after class

Friday

Practice time varies or we have a game. During the Ivy league, we play Friday and Saturday nights. Back to back games are really tough! We usually travel the day of the game unless it is a far school (we leave Thurs night then). We have shoot around at about 2 pm, then pre-game meal, then get to the gym at 5 pm. Game at 7 pm, then travel to the next school by bus right after the game.

Saturday in Ivy Leave

Wake up and do it all over again