By K.D. Norris
ken@wktv.org
West Michigan Lutheran, a very small high school in Wyoming, had five players available for its girls basketball team this season — what you call a really thin bench. But that was before an unlikely import from Southeast Asia joined girls basketball Coach Aaron Cochrill’s team.
For Riley Nguyen, a 17-year-old exchange student from Vietnam, playing on the team was just another way for her to fit in at her school and with her West Michigan host family — Darian Blanchard, the junior co-captain of the team, is her “home sister” in America.
For Cochrill, getting Riley to join was part being a basketball coach and part just being a teacher and mentor to students.
“What Riley brings to our team, first, is a bench — she is the sixth player,” Cochrill said. “But she is so intelligent, and she has a willingness, a ‘Whatever you want me to do coach, I’ll do it.’ So, against Aviation Academy, one of our starting point guards got in foul trouble early and we needed big minutes of her. I just said ‘Riley, it is your turn. Get in there.’ That is what she does, I ask her do something and she does it.”
Thing is, though, Riley really does not play basketball much back in Viet Nam, let along play at the level of American players, even at a small high school.
“I really like basketball, but I am a newbie,” she said. “So its takes a while to catch up with them. They are really good. The challenge is the skills I have to learn. That’s a lot. But the thing I enjoy the most is when I am out on the basketball court. I just go for it. Just do it.”
Just going for it is also an apt way to describe what brought Riley to Western Michigan.
She is in America as part of the International Student Exchange Program (ISEP). Her real home is Tan An City, outskirts of Ho Chi Minh City, with a four-member family including a father who works as an account/auditor. This is her family’s first experience in America.
“I enjoy the new experiences here, the food, the people here,” she said. “I get to know so many people. There lifestyles is not like ours. I also (get to) know so many things about their cultures, too. I really enjoyed Christmas break here. You have Christmas break and spring break and summer break — actually, I think there are a lot of breaks here. … But I like it.”
There were also some challenges off the basketball court. “Sometimes I miss the food in my country. I am so used to Vietnamese food that, sometimes, I have belly ache. … But that is a minor problem.”
Her new “home sister” has been helping her, though, on and off the court. And they have developed quite a friendship, both say.
“I told Riley it is kind of like having a sleepover with your best friend everyday and I really enjoy it,” Darian said. “We really connected. Even before she came here, we were Skyping back and forth, and we found we had a lot in common, a lot of interests together.
“Back home, Riley had a dance group that she was in, so we play games on the Wii, like ‘Just Dance’, a lot. … One of the fun parts about this is showing her everything. A different perspective, a different life. It has been really fun to see her go ‘This is so cool.’ … the look on her face when she sees food that is new, the look on her face is ‘Oh, my God. I cannot believe I have lived without this.’”
And then there is that Michigan State connection.
“I was so surprised, the first time I came here, and I talked to them,” Riley said. “ My dream college is Michigan State, and they are big fans of Michigan State. I was like ‘Ohhh. Yep, we were meant to be.’ We get along really well. They care about me a lot, little things like food, my sleep and stuff like that. Darian, my home sister, she takes care of me.”
And the relationship might not end with the end of this school year. Riley has applied for acceptance at Michigan State and should hear before the end of this school year.
Her American basketball career most assuredly ends with coming off the bench for the Mustangs, however. But coach Cochrill’s favorite story about Riley does show she has at least a little game.
“Our first game. She got fouled. She got to go to the line,” he said. “She made a free throw and she turns around and looks at me, a kind of look that says ‘Is that for real? Did that just happen?’ She kind of gets this grin on her face. … That is her personality to a tee.”
Update –
Cintorino was in control the entire game and only saw two innings where he faced over three batters, the fourth and the seventh. Illinois got a single in the seventh with two outs from Chayka, but the potential rally was immediately stifled as right fielder Alanso Ocon grounded out. Once the final out was made, the celebration was on!
Offensively, District 9 was the visiting team in the game and got off to an early 1-0 lead in the first inning as House singled and was pinch run for by Jake Ritsema, who scored on a single by Brendan Oosse after he had reached second on a wild pitch by losing pitcher, Blane Meyer. They added another run in the second as Buurstra and catcher John Corey both singled in the inning. Corey came home as center fielder Jared Nickel grounded out to the shortstop.
Hit the waters of Mackinac Island with dad at 
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The Golden Gloves have a long, outstanding history throughout the country in the sport of boxing. What started in New York in 1927 as an amateur boxing tournament has morphed into The National Golden Gloves, a boxing program with 
Waterford Our Lady – 64
The defending Class B State Champions weren’t going to go down easy. In fact, it took an extra stanza to outlast the Wolverines, but Williamston pushed through thanks to a 37 point performance from Riley Lewis.
The first two meeting between these two squads ended with Godwin Heights winning in dominating fashion. The third game was much of the same. The Wolverines were led by 20 points from Lamar Norman. By the end of the game, every single Wolverines scored.
