Showcase Q&A: Central-Southeastern’s Peters discusses pickleball, attending QU and spaghetti
The fourth annual Muddy River Showcase takes place June 21 at John Wood Community College’s Student Activity Center. The girls game will tip at 2 p.m. with the boys game to follow at 4 p.m. General admission is $10.
CAMP POINT, Ill. — It would be wise not to challenge Karly Peters on the pickleball court.
A three-sport standout at Camp Point Central and future basketball player at Quincy University, Peters picked up the rapidly growing sport a few years ago, and even though she is not one to brag, she could not help but boast a little bit.
“I don’t really like to say much about my pickleball skills, but I think I’m pretty decent,” Peters said.
Peters’ high-level athleticism comes in handy.
“Jumping right before the kitchen and spiking the ball over like in volleyball, that’s my favorite thing to do,” Peters said.
Peters’ love for the sport started innocently enough.
“My mom bought some paddles, and we started playing together as a family,” Peters said. “Ever since then, that’s what we like to do in our free time. She’s in a league.”
Peters may take after her mother after she fulfills her duties at QU.
“I think after college basketball, I’m going to take it more seriously and get into some leagues and things like that,” Peters said.
Before embarking on either of those journeys, though, Peters will join forces with her best friend, all-stater and SIU-Edwardsville basketball commit Lauren Miller, and her former coach, Matt Long, for the Illinois girls in the Muddy River Showcase. Peters discussed her friendship with Miller, playing three sports and her love of spaghetti with Muddy River Sports writer Shane Hulsey in this Showcase Q&A.
Q: What are you looking forward to most about playing in the Muddy River Showcase?
A: I’m looking forward to getting to play with my best friend Lauren (Miller) again and Coach (Matt) Long one more time, and also playing with girls I’ve played agianst all throughout my high school career.
Q: What do you think it’s going to be like getting to play with Lauren and for Coach Long one more time?
A: It’s going to be a special moment for sure. A little sad, but it’s going to be a fun day to get to share with them.
Q: How much do you and Lauren stay in touch?
A: We text each other every day and we’ve facetimed each other a couple times. She came back last weekend, so we hung out. Whenever we can, we try to talk to each other.
Q: Is it going to be a little odd after this last time knowing that you won’t be able to play with her again?
A: It’s going to be sad for sure, but I know she’s going to do great things at SIUE. We’ll have each other’s backs all the way through it. We’ll stay best friends forever.
Q: What was your reaction when you found out Coach Long was going to coach you?
A: I just got really happy. There’s no one else I’d rather have coach that game. To be able to play for him one more time is going to be really special.
Q: What’s the process been like going from originally committing to John Wood before following Ali Schwagmeyer-Belger and Courtney Belger to Quincy University?
A: I’m just really grateful for the opportunity to be able to follow them. Not everybody gets the opportunity to play in college, especially at the D-II level. I’m happy I can stay with them and continue to help us reach our goals.
Q: What are you planning on studying at QU?
A: I don’t know yet.
Q: Do you have any ideas you’re tossing around or something you’re leaning towards?
A: Not really. I’m just going to see what classes I can take and which ones I’m interested in and go from there.
Q: What are some classes you’re looking forward to taking this fall?
A: I’m looking forward to Anatomy and Physiology 1 just so I can see if healthcare might be an option for me. I’m also taking Intro to Psychology, which will also introduce me to new things I’ve never learned before. I’m excited to get to learn about those things.
Q: What are you looking forward to about college, and what are you most nervous about?
A: I’m looking forward to getting to continue playing basketball. I’m also looking forward to having a more free schedule and getting to have more time to do what I want. I’m a little nervous about the classes and a little bit about basketball, but I think it’s a good thing that I’m nervous because that means I have a pretty good opportunity ahead of me.
Q: Shifting gears to softball, are you going to play slow pitch now that you aren’t playing school ball anymore?
A: Maybe after college, I’ll get into a slow pitch league. I think that would be pretty fun, but I don’t think Ali would think I should play in college because of the chance of injury.
Q: I’m sure you’ll find somewhere to play catch from time to time, won’t you?
A: Yeah, probably. If anyone needs a throwing partner or anything, I can help them out.
Q: Speaking of softball, what has that been like these four years?
A: Softball is a really fun sport on top of basketball. It’s a completely different sport, but it’s so competitive, so I like that. I played in a travel softball league when I was really little, so I’ve been playing softball for a while. I think it’s a great sport, and I like watching college softball.
Q: Do you have a favorite college team?
A: Not really. I don’t really have one. I’ll just watch whatever.
Q: What do you like so much about softball?
A: You get to experience new things compared to basketball and use completely different skills. I also had a great team and great coaches, so all those people made it fun.
Q: Was it nice that it wasn’t all basketball, all the time?
A: Yeah, I think being a multi-sport athlete is really important for athletes in high school. You get to hone different skills and you get to experience new things. I think volleyball and softball have helped me get better at basketball and vice versa. It was nice to be able to play all three and stick with them for that long.
Q: Speaking of volleyball, what was that transition like every year going from volleyball to basketball?
A: Going straight from volleyball to basketball helped us remember the good things about it and not dwell on our last games that we lost. It helped us move on and look forward to different things.
Q: Physically wise, like the cardio, the workouts or any of those things, how do they go hand-in-hand with basketball?
A: Volleyball is a lot of quick movements and jumping, so those are skills I definitely use a lot in basketball.
Q: What about softball? What goes hand-in-hand between that and basketball?
A: On defense, you have to be able to make quick decisions, move quickly side to side. On offense, you have to really pay attention to detail, which is a good thing to be able to do because you have to do that in basketball, too.
Q: Does Lauren play pickleball?
A: We occasionally play together.
Q: How competitive is it within your family?
A: It gets pretty competitive, not going to lie. I think after every time we play together, we’re arguing, but it’s all love.
Q: You mentioned looking forward to your anatomy and physyology class. Do you think you might want to be a personal trainer or something like that down the road?
A: Yeah, I thought about being a personal trainer, an athletic trainer, anything like that to help the body. If I do get into that, I want to stay around sports because that’s what I really like to do. We’ll see after that class and after many other classes what I want to do.
Q: What was your dream job when you were younger?
A: I wanted to be a cowgirl.
Q: Why is that?
A: I say I like horses, but I’d get scared anytime I went around them. I really like watching bull riding, going to rodeos. I guess that could still be a dream of mine. You never know.
Q: What’s it been like playing for the CSE community?
A: I’ve been very honored to play for them. They want it just as badly as we do. You can definitely tell they’re supportive in everything we do. They come to basketball games, but they also come to graduations, grad parties, things like that. They’re there to watch us play sports but also to become great humans.
Q: What’s your go-to music genre?
A: Either pop or rap.
Q: Do you have a certain playlist or anything you listen to before every game?
A: I listen to a rap playlist. I have a lot of Drake in there, but it’s just a bunch of random songs that get me going.
Q: Do you have some favorite artists?
A: I don’t really have specific favorites. I just listen to random songs. That’s why I can never go to a concert. I don’t just listen to one artist, so I don’t know all of their songs.
Q: Do you have a favorite pre-game meal or a certain type of food you eat before every game?
A: Not really. I’ll eat whatever. Whenever we had team meals, I think pasta was the best pregame meal.
Q: Do you have a favorite kind of pasta?
A: Spaghetti, for sure. We’re actually having the whole team over tonight, and we’re going to have a bunch of spaghetti.
Q: Do you share the opinion that spaghetti is just as good, if not better, leftover as it is the first night?
A: Yep.
Q: Who has made the best spaghetti you’ve ever had?
A: Honestly, my mom. I don’t know what she does to it, but it’s good.
Check out more of the Muddy River Showcase Q&As at the links below:
Payson Seymour’s Blake Schwartz
South Shelby’s Callie McWilliams
West Hancock’s Lewis Siegfried
Quincy Notre Dame’s Alex Dance
Central-Southeastern’s Lauren Miller
Camp Point Central’s Elijah Genenbacher
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