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SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Haymitch Abernathy is about to be selected for the 50th annual Hunger Games. He’s 16 and desperate to save the girl he loves from the horrific fate that is competing in the Games. This is a defining moment. Decades later he will mentor Katniss and Peeta, but this event kicks off the whole story. This is the moment that — “Hi Sienna,” a voice breaks through.
Sienna Betts looks up. She begrudgingly places a bookmark between the pages of “Sunrise on the Reaping” and turns her attention toward the reporters swarming the UCLA locker room. Haymitch will have to wait.
Across the room, Timea Gardiner’s eyes dance across the pages of “A Court of Silver Flames” — the latest in Sarah J. Mass’ uber popular “A Court of Thorns and Roses” series. It’s a favorite among several of the UCLA players, and Charlisse Leger-Walker recommended it to Gardiner, who has been hooked ever since.
“It’s been a fun connection point for everybody,” Gardiner said. “We are all kind of nerds in our own right. I generally think anybody can read, just find the genre that you’re interested in.”
The Bruins are not alone in their love of reading. It’s become the favorite pastime among many women’s college basketball players. In LSU’s locker room, before the Tigers were eliminated in the Sweet 16, Flau’jae Johnson, Kate Koval and Izzy Besselman have their books safely tucked into their team-issued backpacks.
What they read reflects who they are. Besselman loves historical fiction, reading about female spies and the perils of World War II. Johnson reads self-improvement, slowly working her way through the pages, equipped with a pen and a highlighter to annotate passages that resonate with her. Reading is a habit she picked up as a freshman when assistant coach Bob Starkey gave her “The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom” to read. He also introduced Koval to the hobby, but she’s since branched out and is trying different genres. Right now, Koval is interested in business and economics, so she’s reading a book called “The Changing World Order: Why Nations Succeed and Fail.”
For the Ukranian, reading is a powerful tool. It helps her unwind before bed, teaches her new words in English and helps her connect with her dad, who is far away from Baton Rogue. He often recommends books to Koval, and the two dissect them together.
“My dad is a businessman, an entrepreneur, so he knows what he’s talking about,” Koval said. “It gives us another thing that we can talk about and discuss and connect on. He also gets a better understanding of me through it.”
LSU players aren’t the only ones who started reading after a gentle shove from Starkey. Romi Levy, a sixth-year player at Virginia, started her career at Auburn during the 2021-22 season, when Starkey was an assistant coach. Back then he gave reading assignments, starting with ”The Energy Bus: 10 Rules to Fuel Your Life, Work, and Team with Positive Energy.” Levy discovered that she liked the relaxation reading provided, but not the subject matter of her assigned materials. These days, she prefers murder mysteries and the thrill of trying to guess the killer.
“I always think I know, but I never actually get it,” she said with a laugh. “I love never knowing what’s going to happen next.”
Playing Division I basketball is a hectic, all-consuming job. Add in school, NIL partnership duties, media sessions and the daily challenges of being a college student, and you have a life that is always teetering on overwhelming. Reading allows players to get away.
“I think it gives us peace of mind,” Besselman said. “I really do. It’s your own little escape away from basketball, away from the game.”
Growing up, South Carolina’s Adhel Tac liked to escape into the world of reading a little bit too much. In elementary school, library days were her favorite. They just didn’t happen often enough, because Tac could finish a book in one night and be ready to explore the stacks once more the next day.
Sometimes, reading even got her in trouble.
“There were times when I would get my book taken away, either at school or at home, so I could focus on what I actually needed to do,” she said with a laugh.
Tac is currently dealing with a lower leg injury. There aren’t many positives from being sidelined, but there is at least one. While the rest of the Gamecocks chat with reporters during locker room availability, Tac is tucked away on the floor of the training room, reading the first installment of James Patterson’s Alex Cross series on her kindle.
And though she’s not on the court right now, Tac credits reading for bettering her as a basketball player.
“Especially with paper scouts,” she said. “Looking at stats and player personnel and finding the important things. I have more attention to detail. I think that’s the best part of my game, that I’m able to analyze it.”
Tac also loves the world-building and emotions that come with getting caught up in a good book. That’s something that Oklahoma’s Beatrice Culliton relates too. She remembers getting lost in the world of Harry Potter as a kid, and now, she reads anything by Jodi Picoult.
“Reading is so fun,” she said. “And as basketball players there are a lot of stressors externally, but reading allows you to escape and calm down. I think everyone should read.”
It was a long flight from Norman to Sacramento, Culliton had plenty of reading time on the plane. So did her teammates and fellow Sooner readers, Brooklyn Stewart and Keziah Lofton. The two freshmen live together and read together, with Stewart utilizing the ease of a Kindle and Lofton preferring the feel of a paper book in her hands. Regardless of how they consume the novels, Lofton and Stewart always read the same things, with their favorite genres including romance and thrillers. For them, it’s more fun when they can dive into a two-person book club.
Recently, Lofton read “Verity,” by Colleen Hoover and immediately recommended it to Stewart.
“We were just talking about it on the bus over here (to the arena),” Lofton said. “She was like ‘No way that just happened!’ And I’m like, ‘Just wait, it gets even better.”
For Lofton, Stewart and many other members of the women’s basketball book club, reading has been a lifelong passion. Books like “Magic Treehouse,” “Goosebumps” and “Junie B. Jones,” drew them in long ago. But for UCLA’s Betts, it’s a relatively new hobby. She’s making up for lost time, using any spare moment to disappear into her book.
The digital clock on the wall of UCLA’s locker room ticks down and media members trickle out the door. No more reporters. No more questions. No more basketball.
Betts reaches for her book. Now where was she? She settles back in. The locker room fades away, and District 12 comes into view. It’s Haymitch Abernathy’s world, but Betts is right there with him, escaping into the story one page at a time.
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
UCLA Bruins, Women's College Basketball, Culture
2026 The Athletic Media Company
Continue reading...
Sienna Betts looks up. She begrudgingly places a bookmark between the pages of “Sunrise on the Reaping” and turns her attention toward the reporters swarming the UCLA locker room. Haymitch will have to wait.
Across the room, Timea Gardiner’s eyes dance across the pages of “A Court of Silver Flames” — the latest in Sarah J. Mass’ uber popular “A Court of Thorns and Roses” series. It’s a favorite among several of the UCLA players, and Charlisse Leger-Walker recommended it to Gardiner, who has been hooked ever since.
“It’s been a fun connection point for everybody,” Gardiner said. “We are all kind of nerds in our own right. I generally think anybody can read, just find the genre that you’re interested in.”
The Bruins are not alone in their love of reading. It’s become the favorite pastime among many women’s college basketball players. In LSU’s locker room, before the Tigers were eliminated in the Sweet 16, Flau’jae Johnson, Kate Koval and Izzy Besselman have their books safely tucked into their team-issued backpacks.
What they read reflects who they are. Besselman loves historical fiction, reading about female spies and the perils of World War II. Johnson reads self-improvement, slowly working her way through the pages, equipped with a pen and a highlighter to annotate passages that resonate with her. Reading is a habit she picked up as a freshman when assistant coach Bob Starkey gave her “The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom” to read. He also introduced Koval to the hobby, but she’s since branched out and is trying different genres. Right now, Koval is interested in business and economics, so she’s reading a book called “The Changing World Order: Why Nations Succeed and Fail.”
For the Ukranian, reading is a powerful tool. It helps her unwind before bed, teaches her new words in English and helps her connect with her dad, who is far away from Baton Rogue. He often recommends books to Koval, and the two dissect them together.
“My dad is a businessman, an entrepreneur, so he knows what he’s talking about,” Koval said. “It gives us another thing that we can talk about and discuss and connect on. He also gets a better understanding of me through it.”
LSU players aren’t the only ones who started reading after a gentle shove from Starkey. Romi Levy, a sixth-year player at Virginia, started her career at Auburn during the 2021-22 season, when Starkey was an assistant coach. Back then he gave reading assignments, starting with ”The Energy Bus: 10 Rules to Fuel Your Life, Work, and Team with Positive Energy.” Levy discovered that she liked the relaxation reading provided, but not the subject matter of her assigned materials. These days, she prefers murder mysteries and the thrill of trying to guess the killer.
“I always think I know, but I never actually get it,” she said with a laugh. “I love never knowing what’s going to happen next.”
Playing Division I basketball is a hectic, all-consuming job. Add in school, NIL partnership duties, media sessions and the daily challenges of being a college student, and you have a life that is always teetering on overwhelming. Reading allows players to get away.
“I think it gives us peace of mind,” Besselman said. “I really do. It’s your own little escape away from basketball, away from the game.”
Growing up, South Carolina’s Adhel Tac liked to escape into the world of reading a little bit too much. In elementary school, library days were her favorite. They just didn’t happen often enough, because Tac could finish a book in one night and be ready to explore the stacks once more the next day.
Sometimes, reading even got her in trouble.
“There were times when I would get my book taken away, either at school or at home, so I could focus on what I actually needed to do,” she said with a laugh.
Tac is currently dealing with a lower leg injury. There aren’t many positives from being sidelined, but there is at least one. While the rest of the Gamecocks chat with reporters during locker room availability, Tac is tucked away on the floor of the training room, reading the first installment of James Patterson’s Alex Cross series on her kindle.
And though she’s not on the court right now, Tac credits reading for bettering her as a basketball player.
“Especially with paper scouts,” she said. “Looking at stats and player personnel and finding the important things. I have more attention to detail. I think that’s the best part of my game, that I’m able to analyze it.”
Tac also loves the world-building and emotions that come with getting caught up in a good book. That’s something that Oklahoma’s Beatrice Culliton relates too. She remembers getting lost in the world of Harry Potter as a kid, and now, she reads anything by Jodi Picoult.
“Reading is so fun,” she said. “And as basketball players there are a lot of stressors externally, but reading allows you to escape and calm down. I think everyone should read.”
It was a long flight from Norman to Sacramento, Culliton had plenty of reading time on the plane. So did her teammates and fellow Sooner readers, Brooklyn Stewart and Keziah Lofton. The two freshmen live together and read together, with Stewart utilizing the ease of a Kindle and Lofton preferring the feel of a paper book in her hands. Regardless of how they consume the novels, Lofton and Stewart always read the same things, with their favorite genres including romance and thrillers. For them, it’s more fun when they can dive into a two-person book club.
Recently, Lofton read “Verity,” by Colleen Hoover and immediately recommended it to Stewart.
“We were just talking about it on the bus over here (to the arena),” Lofton said. “She was like ‘No way that just happened!’ And I’m like, ‘Just wait, it gets even better.”
For Lofton, Stewart and many other members of the women’s basketball book club, reading has been a lifelong passion. Books like “Magic Treehouse,” “Goosebumps” and “Junie B. Jones,” drew them in long ago. But for UCLA’s Betts, it’s a relatively new hobby. She’s making up for lost time, using any spare moment to disappear into her book.
The digital clock on the wall of UCLA’s locker room ticks down and media members trickle out the door. No more reporters. No more questions. No more basketball.
Betts reaches for her book. Now where was she? She settles back in. The locker room fades away, and District 12 comes into view. It’s Haymitch Abernathy’s world, but Betts is right there with him, escaping into the story one page at a time.
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
UCLA Bruins, Women's College Basketball, Culture
2026 The Athletic Media Company
Continue reading...
