Written By DAVID EDOLE
Special to the Daily News
ST. CROIX — “What’s for you is for you,” is a phrase that typically means that today may not be your day, but tomorrow may be.
These are the words that St. Thomas native Unique Meyers frequently repeated during her pursuit of a basketball scholarship. Although she received numerous offers, the St. Thomian felt they were not all the best fit.
Through faith, hard work and determination, Meyers knew she had to trust the process.
That journey led the 18-year-old to Coppin State University in Baltimore, Maryland, where she has signed on to be a part of their incoming freshman basketball class.
Spending the past season as a post-grad at DME Sports Academy in Daytona Beach, Florida, Meyers had to separate herself from her parents, Jerry and Sheri Meyers, in Maryland, and go at it independently.
“Just turning seventeen, that was the best thing for me,” said Meyers. “I wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to develop my game. It was a real life experience for me. Being on my own gave me a chance to show my parents that I can be responsible.”
At DME Academy, Meyers played against some of the most competitive junior colleges in Florida which required her to spend more time training and helped her become a more confident player.
“I saw some players getting offers and I said to myself, ‘why can’t I,’ ” Meyers confessed. “I am putting in as much, or more, work than the others, so why am I not getting the right looks? I had to put doubt aside and start believing in myself.”
Her opportunity came, when Coppin State University first came to see her play in a 3-on-3 game at DME Academy.
“Coaches came to the gym, saw me work out and offered,” said Meyers. “I went from playing in an open recreation league to Division I. Dreams do come true.”
“I visited the campus and saw how the team practiced. I put on the uniform that I will be wearing, met the administration and did the traditional visit. The freshman class I’m in is deep and the players are good,” she reflected.
Meyers’ journey to Coppin State had many stops before finally getting into the big leagues. She started playing on St. Thomas at age 8 in the Derrick Heyliger and Venise Fraser League and then the Zero Tolerance program before moving to Virginia with her parents.
Meyers then played in, and won, the Herndon Optimist Championship — a youth travel basketball league — and was named MVP scoring 35 points. She attended Westfield High School, in Virgina, and played with the junior varsity team averaging over 20 points per game.
Her summers were spent playing in the Amateur Athletic Union with Havoc City, in Washington D.C., and then returning to the Virgin Islands to train in both Milt Newton’s and the Great Adventures Basketball Camps.
She transferred to Riverdale Baptist School in Maryland and played on the junior varsity team during 10th and 11th grades.
Meyers came with the team to St. Thomas to play in the Rock City Jam in 2015 and led the team to wins at both the Frederick Douglas Championship and the Title IX Simeon Williams Championships where she received the MVP award at both tournaments.
Meyers then transferred to, and graduated from, National Christian Academy in Maryland where she won the National Champions of the Myrtle Beach Classic in Conway, South Carolina.
Meyers was a McDonald’s AllAmerican nominee, 2018 Esmark All-American honoree, Rose Classic Scholar-athlete, Dean’s Honor Roll and National Society of High School Scholars.
The 5-foot-7 guard had no problems balancing her efforts in the classroom and on the court.
All she needed to do was to get on the right radar. Through her strong belief in God, self and perseverance, she finally did it.
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