I was at Bolingbrook High School last December watching the Raiders play Homewood-Flossmoor. Trinity Jones, one of the best players in the high school class of 2026, went the length of the court in just three dribbles and finished with a right-handed layup. She was a tantalizing talent, blocking shots and asserting her dominance on the court. That was my first major introduction to the immense girls basketball talent in the state. Related Year In Review 2024: Behind the scenes look at our most notable coverage A few months later, at the Illinois High School Association Class 4A state championship game, Loyola guard Aubrey Galvan drained a 3 from near half-court with the score tied in the third quarter. Her team finished the season undefeated and was routinely one of the most exciting teams to watch thanks to a fast-paced style.Those were just two of the multiple games that completely impressed me with the individual talent on the floor — and how lucky I was to be covering this for a living. In awe of their skill, I felt a great duty to ensure the reader could see exactly what happened in the games and give these impressive student athletes their due. Covering these games since the fall of 2023 has been an amazing experience for me.It was actually that February when my dream job listing posted: The Sun-Times was hiring a sports reporter in conjunction with Report for America, a nonprofit that places emerging journalists in newsrooms to cover under-reported issues and communities. This reporter would focus on high school sports, particularly girls. The Sun-Times hadn't employed a regular girls basketball reporter since 2011. I immediately applied. As a Chicago native, I grew up with the Sun-Times, reading the work of sports scribes such as Rick Telander and Russell Dorsey as well as Maddie Lee and Ben Pope in more recent years — among many others. In many ways, they have profoundly affected my career, so I knew the weight of the opportunity.After interviewing and landing the job, I knew I had work to do. Though I wouldn’t start until after I graduated from Northwestern’s master's of sports journalism program, I had to figure out the best players in the area, connect with coaches and start building those relationships.A lot of the first year on the job was a trial-and-error process. The Sun-Times has more than 100 schools in its coverage area — and thanks to the outstanding job that preps editor Michael O’Brien does — I had somewhat of a blueprint to follow. I started emailing coaches and trying to learn more about their teams and players. Connecting with adults was something that I had no problem doing. Through internships and graduate school, I'd interviewed adults numerous times, but I had never interviewed a high school student.That turned out to be a challenge because there was more onus on me to phrase a question as perfectly as possible. There was one instance in which I interviewed an athlete from St. Ignatius College Prep — her first interview ever. She was nervous at first, not wanting to say the wrong thing, choosing her words carefully. But the more questions I asked, the more comfortable she became.Navigating an athlete’s inexperience helped me improve my phrasing. I learned to streamline questions and be more direct. That experience helped in covering several other sports for the Sun-Times.The reactions to my coverage, frankly, have been overwhelming. From exuberant reader emails expressing how much they enjoyed my stories, to parents approaching me during games to tell me how they bought stacks of newspapers with stories about their kids — people couldn’t have been more gracious. I also covered the Sky and the WNBA, and it’s clear that women’s basketball is in an unprecedented era of visibility and growing numbers of fans yearning for coverage. High school girls basketball is no different — and I'm glad I've been able to contribute. 2024 Sun-Times Year in Review The stories behind the Sun-Times stories Related Here’s how we are staying relevant as the news industry struggles to adapt to changing times In 2024, we sought — and published — more community voices in our news coverage The year in pictures: Here are our top photos from 2024 How Sun-Times photographers captured their favorite photos in 2024 How we uncovered Chicago’s plans to hide homeless people during the Democratic convention Covering Chicago Public Schools is not for the weak Covering a convention on two wheels My life on the cicada beat: How we reported on the historic insect emergence in Illinois in 2024 Covering sports in Chicago has been a dream come true