For the past four years, Caileen Adams has been part of the Millis soccer and basketball teams that has recorded an 89-31-14 regular season record, while capturing five sectional championships and 2 state titles. She is used to winning, but by continually participating in the post-season in back-to-back sports, she doesn’t really get any downtime.
“There is no real rest between the soccer and basketball season because of the success we’ve had,” she said. “It’s a hard transition, but I love school sports and being part of the community, and I wouldn’t give it up for anything.”
Adams has been playing basketball since a very early age, due to the fact that her father was a coach. Following youth basketball she began playing with the AAU team the basketball gym Rats for two years and then the Millis AAU team. Playing for the AAU teams allowed her to play with a different group of girls and exposed her to a much higher standard. Not only was the tempo much faster, the girls were more talented and pushed her to become better.
“Coach (Dave) Fallon highly encouraged me to try out for the varsity team as a freshman,” Adams said. “I was very nervous, but I was friends with a lot of the girls on the team who also played soccer, so I was not intimidated at all.”
At 5’1” the Millis native was obviously slated to play a guard position once she made the varsity team, but at a diminutive stature she didn’t back down to anyone.
“Size is not really an issue to me, I feel that I can hold my own,” she said. “Being small, I play with an aggressive edge and usually don’t get the respect I deserve at first, but they soon learn.”
Adams actually began playing for the Millis high school as a seventh grader when she was part of the freshman team, as a sophomore played for the junior varsity team and eventually made the varsity team, but didn’t see the floor as a starter until last year. Luckily as a freshman she was part of the Millis team that won the Division 4 Central Championship.
“I didn’t score all that much that year, but I felt that I did contribute to the team,” she said. “Those first two seasons, I scored here and there when I got the chance, and it helped me prepare for last year when I became a starter.”
Through the three years Adams has played both off and point guard for the Mohawks. Although she only averaged about 8 points last year her scoring came when Millis really needed her to knock down some big shots.
“She’s a tough individual that plays a physical game when though she’s one of the smallest player on the court,” Coach Fallon said. “She didn’t score as much, but she has a knack of hitting big shots at timely moments for us.”
Although she is not a power scorer for the Mohawks, she does play a mean defense.
“Defense is definitely one of my stronger suits,” Adams said. “My lack of height gives other players the impression that they can push me around, but they soon find out that they can’t.”
Last year Adams was a big part of Millis going 19-1; winning the school’s first ever Tri-Valley League Title in either boys or girls basketball, winning the Division 3 Central Championship before eventually losing in the States.
Entering her senior campaign, Adams had been named one of the team’s captains and is looking to keep things moving in the right direction despite knowing that she is going to have to step up her game.
“I know that we lost our top scorers, and I’m going to have to be more selfish, in the sense, when it comes to scoring,” she said. “If the team is going to continue to be successful, I am going to need to take that shot instead of passing it as much as I have in the past.”
During this past off-season, the senior worked on her shot three or four times a week and participated with the boys in open practices to stay sharp. As the Millis coach Fallon is looking forward to Adams taking her game to the next level.
“I know that she’ll provide the strong leadership that we will need,” Fallon said. “But I’m hoping that she can pick up her game and give us something more offensively in terms of scoring, and I think that she knows that.”
Come next fall, when Adams heads off to college, wherever that may be, she is planning on continuing to play both basketball and soccer just not on a competitive level. The two sports are in her blood and will always be, so once she gets to college she’ll most likely play them as a hobby or on a club level – and will probably be successful.
Issue Date:
January, 2020
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