Reshard Already Familiar With Tide Program
9/7/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Familiarity, at least most of the time, is a good thing.
That’s certainly the hope of incoming Tide women’s basketball player Nathalie Reshard. Indeed, if familiarity counts for anything in her upcoming junior season, Reshard might already have a jump on the competition.
The reason for that hope lies in the fact that Reshard has already built connections to the Crimson Tide program and has already played for a member of the Alabama staff during her two-year junior college career.
“I guess I have a little bit more experience than my teammates,” Reshard said. “Even though it isn’t at this level, I hope I am able to make the transition to the SEC a little quicker. I definitely am looking forward to this new challenge.”
In fact, Reshard has managed to make connections with the Tide program ever since she began her collegiate basketball career two seasons ago.
After graduating from Niceville High School in Niceville, Fla., where she was her team’s offensive MVP as a senior, Reshard knew she needed to improve on the floor to make it in big-time college basketball. So she enrolled in nearby Seminole Community College, where she played on the team coached by an up-and-coming coach at the school, Lisa Nuxol.
A year later, Nuxol formed Reshard’s first link to the Tide when she headed to Alabama to join Stephany Smith’s first coaching staff at Alabama. Reshard, looking to further improve her game and not wishing to remain at Seminole without Nuxol, moved on to Okaloosa-Walton Community College to finish her junior college career.
“Coach Nuxol created a total family-like atmosphere,” Reshard said. “She made everyone feel like a part of the team and was really good at connecting with her players. It made it feel like a family to be on her team.”
At OWCC, Reshard came under the tutelage of another young coach with even deeper ties to Alabama, OWCC head coach Brittney Ezell. Ezell, who starred for the Tide during some of its most successful years under former head coach Rick Moody, went on to become an assistant under her mentor following her playing days and coached Reshard last season, her first as head coach at OWCC.
“Coach Ezell was totally different,” Reshard said. “She was all about business on the floor. We had a job to do and we were expected to do it. It was much more of a business atmosphere with her.”
Alabama, it seems, has been a part of Reshard’s basketball lineage since the moment she left high school.
For her, the playing experiences and the perspective she has gained from her two years in the junior college ranks have put her in touch with two different programs under two coaches. Each had their own way of teaching the game and running a program, but each helped Reshard improve her basketball knowledge and ability as well as help her make the decision to wear a Crimson Tide uniform herself.
“I always wanted to come to a place with so much tradition and history,” Reshard said. “Alabama is one of those places that has so much respect around the country. Everyone knows who we are, and that was something I really wanted to be a part of.”
Now Reshard finds herself in a new role on her first Crimson Tide team. As a newcomer, she must find a way to fit in with four returning players who have logged significant minutes of playing time in the SEC. But on the other hand, with two years of collegiate experience herself, she will also try to help lead her fellow newcomers into their first seasons of college basketball.
“I feel like maybe I can help them,” Reshard said. “Even though I haven’t played at this level before, I understand that there are a lot of stresses and changes in your first few seasons. I hope I can help everyone else while making the adjustments myself.”
In the meantime, Reshard is trying to adjust to basketball under her third coach in as many seasons. For her, though, the Alabama staff has been able to bring aspects of both of her previous coaches to the table, giving the team a perfect mix of personality.
“Playing for coach Smith is like a combination of my junior college coaches,” Reshard said. “Coach Smith really tries to make the team a family, but at the same time, she is all about business when we get on the floor. I think it is going to be a perfect mix for me.”
With the Tide, Reshard will likely find herself competing for time at either of the post spots. Her intelligence on the floor and her ability to learn quickly and make good decisions make her an ideal fit for Smith’s triangle offensive scheme.
“Nathalie is a tremendous athlete who has great character,” Smith said. “She has great leadership abilities and is capable of leading and communicating with teammates. She is a very positive person who will be a great addition to our team.”
With all of the changes Reshard has seen in her collegiate career, one thing has remained constant: academic success. After a successful high school academic career that saw her win Niceville High School’s Athletics/Academic award as a senior, Reshard breezed through junior college, earning a business degree from Okaloosa-Walton with a 3.20 GPA.
“Nathalie is a wonderful young lady and a tremendous student,” Ezell said. “She is a very driven person and we are all looking forward to her playing with the Crimson Tide.”
The 2006-07 season will be a season of change in Tuscaloosa. With seven newcomers to the team and an entirely different attitude heading into the season, much will be different at Alabama.
Thankfully for Nathalie Reshard, there will be some familiarity. Playing in a new setting, she will have the advantage of competing under coaches who have known her and have coached her in the past.
Hopefully for Reshard and her new Crimson Tide teammates, that familiarity will result in more wins on the hardwood this winter. Without a doubt, that would be something everyone would like to be familiar with.
