Shooting for Success

An In-Depth Look on Junior Lauren Guyer’s Life as a Basketball Player

Photo by Sara Mnookin/Maclay Andalusian

Whether it’s dribbling across the court or shooting three-pointers, junior Lauren Guyer has always had a love and passion for basketball. Starting in just the first-grade, L. Guyer began her basketball journey by exploring different camps over the summer for the sport, and really started to pick it up by third-grade.

“That’s [basketball] just the one thing that I was really good at,” L. Guyer said. “I always did soccer and running and did tennis camps over the summer. I think I just enjoyed basketball the most and I think I was the best at that sport.”

L. Guyer’s talent quickly escalated, and by the fifth-grade, she was asked to play on the middle school team. Not long after, in sixth grade, L. Guyer moved up to play on the high school varsity basketball team, and that was the start of her varsity career. 

Despite L. Guyer’s young age, she thrived on the high school basketball team and connected with her teammates instantly. 

“The older girls on the team were [like] big sisters to me,” L. Guyer said. 

Eighth-grade year was when things really started to click for L. Guyer, and the sport became more than just an activity, but a part of who she was. During pre-season, L. Guyer began practicing every day for around two hours as well as lifting weights and other conditioning that was required. Being a point guard as well as a shooting guard became integrated into L. Guyer’s daily life, which delighted her, but also pushed her.

“I think it’s just all together a challenge,” L. Guyer said. “It’s a very challenging sport and I think that is why I like it. I think [the sport] just being a challenge has drawn me so close to it because I love challenges.”

L. Guyer is not the only athlete in her family, and senior Kaitlyn Guyer has also been pursuing the sport for quite some time. Together, the two are unstoppable and their competitive drive shines on the court.

“She’s definitely, I feel like the voice, light and the heart of our team,” K. Guyer said. “She primarily functions as our point guard, which is the leader on the court, and she’s always very energetic and motivated to do anything [for our team]. Doing a sport together, it’s different than anything else we do as a family. On a team, we are about uplifting each other and doing things that would have a better outcome for the team as a whole.”

During L. Guyer’s time as a basketball player, she has drawn inspiration from several college and professional athletes and looks up to the people closest to her. 

“[One college player that I look up to] I would say is O’Mariah Gordon at FSU,” L. Guyer said. “I kind of know her [which means a lot to me] and Caitlin Clark obviously, she’s a big inspiration. Just how she plays the game and how she’s so composed I think that's really important in the sport. My sister is also a big role model, she works so hard, and I think just trying to compete with that but also be like her has also inspired me.”

One of L. Guyer’s biggest accomplishments happened just recently during her junior year season: hitting one thousand career points. This can only be achieved during a player’s varsity high school basketball career and is when a player scores a total of one thousand points. Completing this major milestone as a junior in high school is pretty rare, making this an extremely rewarding accomplishment. 

“Getting the one thousand points is really special because it shows that you can score the ball [really well],” L. Guyer said.

L. Guyer was presented with a painted basketball reminiscing the memorable moment during an upper school assembly. 

“I knew [the reward] was coming but I didn’t think it would be in front of the whole high school,” L. Guyer said.  “That was kind of a surprise, but in the moment, being with my team on that floor and just having them there was special. It was a really happy moment [for me].”

In the future, L. Guyer hopes to play basketball at the collegiate level and is currently in the recruiting process but knows everything will work its way out in the end.

“I want to play [basketball] in college, but if it doesn’t happen, I wouldn’t be mad,” L. Guyer said. “They’re other things than just the sport [that I am looking for in a college]. I love the sport [and] it’s a really good stress reliever from school and it just brings me so much joy.”