Since my two sisters and I each were in second grade, we have played basketball — a lot of basketball. Along the way, the sport has become the foundation of our sisterhood.
Our love for basketball has led to collegiate careers for all three of us. I played at Valparaiso. After graduating last year, I started working in communications at the NCAA. My middle sister, Jillian, is a senior at Virginia, while my youngest sister, Macy, is a sophomore at Michigan.
Although my parents never played collegiate basketball, they raised Jillian, Macy and me in the gym.
Noelle and Spencer Brown raised Olivia, Jillian and Macy in the gym, often using their experiences on the court as a way to teach life lessons. (Photo courtesy of Olivia Brown)
My mom, Noelle, now the director of a Grand Rapids, Michigan, women's basketball travel club, ran tournaments on the weekends, so we spent our days playing and watching basketball, running around in our long shorts, knee pads and headbands in the style of Notre Dame's Skylar Diggins.
My mom even encouraged us to dribble the ball in the house. We would often roll our eyes when she would say, "If you want to be Division I basketball players, you need to ...," followed by things we supposedly should be doing to become better basketball players (even if it meant running a 5k while dribbling a basketball). We would always reluctantly listen, but I guess she was right.
My dad, Spencer, has always been the person who brought perspective to basketball. Whenever we had frustrations (and, oh, did we have frustrations), he would offer guidance that would help us become better teammates, leaders and players. Regardless of the outcome of the game, my dad would hug us and say he was proud. Plus, a lot of our height and innate basketball abilities come from our granddad, my dad's father, who founded Mr. B's Basketball Camp.
(Left to right) Olivia, Macy and Jillian Brown during one of their COVID-19-era workouts in 2020. (Photo courtesy of Olivia Brown)
I could write pages and pages about the five of us and our basketball memories together. Yet for me and my sisters, I think our one-on-one matchups best encapsulate our relationship. When the world shut down during the COVID-19 pandemic, we had a key to the gym and played basketball every single day. We would go through shooting and ball-handling rotations before getting to our favorite part: playing one-on-one against each other.
I used my strength and mental toughness to try to get in my little sisters' heads. There was a lot of "LIV! That is a FOUL!" when they played me. I'm the oldest sister, so I told them to toughen up.
Jillian plays with pure finesse and a high basketball IQ. She can score on all three levels and can use quick ball handling to shift her defender off balance. She is usually the one calling the fouls when we play against each other.
Macy is an all-around special player. At almost 6 feet, she can shoot, drive and handle the ball as well as anyone. In my opinion, her gift is her ability to see the court. She can look one way while zipping a cross-court pass to a wide-open player for a 3 and make it look easy.
On one of those gym days, Jillian and I went after Macy. Macy was a freshman in high school at that point, quick and skilled but small and thin. We scored point after point against her. We were extra physical, pushing our shoulders into her to send her off balance so we could score.
"This is what it's going to be like in high school basketball, Macy."
"We're doing this now so when you get into the games, you can match the physicality."
"Be tough, Macy. Come on. You can do this. Keep fighting back."
Still, Macy got more and more frustrated. Eventually, she started crying. Jillian and I looked at each other with wide eyes and ran over to embrace her in a hug.
"I'll never be as good as you guys," Macy said.
"No, Macy, you'll be even better," Jillian said. "When Liv and I were your age, we would not have been able to beat a high school and college player, either. This is what is going to make you great."
Although it felt like forever in the moment, those pandemic gym days ended. Looking back, that era encapsulated a moment in time for Jillian, Macy and me. Over the past five years, I have seen college basketball shape, change and grow my younger sisters.
When you're actually playing the sport, the wins and losses and points and percentages feel like the most important thing. The practices (long, long practices), the travel and the games take a mental toll.
Throughout my own college basketball experience, Jillian and Macy became a guiding light for me to be a positive role model. Now that I'm done playing college basketball, I have the joy of simply supporting my younger sisters. Of course, I still care about their success on the court, but mainly I care about how college basketball has become a tool for them to become wonderful people.
Jillian Brown has been sidelined with an ACL injury this year, so she has learned to shift her role on the team and lead through building relationships and coaching her teammates. (Photo courtesy of Virginia)
Throughout four years in college, Jillian has embraced her strength and confidence.
She played her first two years at Northwestern, so because our schools were only an hour and a half apart, we would often visit each other. During those trips, we had the chance to enter each other's worlds.
In high school, I had only seen Jillian navigating life as my younger sister. She would often let her assertive older sister do the talking, though she always had an air of quiet confidence.
In college, on her own in a new environment, Jillian flourished. Her upperclassmen embraced and poured into her. The Northwestern band created a fan page for her on social media because they loved her. The coaches said whenever they heard a ball bouncing in the practice gym, they always assumed it was Jillian. That was the reputation she created for herself.
This year, an ACL injury sidelined Jillian for the entire season. Jillian used the time away from basketball to develop her identity. Her professors selected her for the Distinguished Majors program, a track that allows her to publish her own research. She earned the Ralph Sampson Scholarship, awarding a person who embodies being a Virginia student-athlete. She earned a spot on the All-ACC Academic Team when she played last year.
She has also taken the time to mentor younger players when they have struggled throughout the season. As a naturally introverted person, she found her voice even when she couldn't make an impact on the court.
College basketball empowered Jillian to step into herself, giving her a strength, self-assuredness and glow I had never seen before.
Macy Brown has flourished at Michigan, doing well in her classes and forming lifelong friendships. She wants to be a sportscaster in the future. (Photo courtesy of Michigan)
Macy, meanwhile, has grown in different ways than either Jillian or I experienced. In Macy's senior year of high school, she was named Michigan's Miss Basketball, the highest statewide honor for a player. Macy naturally charms everyone with her emotional intelligence and charisma, so she has always been looked up to as a leader. Within the first week as a freshman at Michigan, the coaches assigned Macy to host a recruit. That exemplifies the trust in Macy to connect and represent their program.
Yet as a freshman in college, she did not receive as much playing time as she expected. She worked hard, did extra workouts, prioritized the right things, but even by her sophomore year, her role on the team has looked different than she expected.
Still, Macy shows up with a positive attitude every day. She continues to work hard. She puts effort into building relationships with her teammates and coaches. She also earned Academic All-Big Ten honors this year.
Macy is a class act. I know she will find success on and off the court in the future because of her strength and resiliency.
As kids, we would go to Michigan basketball games, dreaming of the far-off possibility of being on that stage. Every time I watch Macy play, it feels surreal. On Friday, my parents and I will travel to South Bend, Indiana, to watch Macy and her teammates in the NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Championship. I know Jillian will be watching the game on TV.
I can already picture Macy smiling and jumping with her teammates in the pregame huddle before the lights dim for the starting lineup. Then, she will get serious and go out to compete on college basketball's biggest stage.
To see Jillian and Macy compete at this level has been something out of my family's wildest dreams. Regardless of the outcome, I could not be prouder of both of my sisters.
Jillian, Macy and Olivia Brown enjoy spending time together without talking about basketball. They are pictured here on a sisters' vacation in Iceland. (Photo courtesy of Olivia Brown)
The Brown family gathers at Olivia's graduation from Valparaiso. (Photo courtesy of Olivia Brown)
Growing up together in the gym set the foundation of our sisterhood, and being collegiate student-athletes has been a teacher for us. Through basketball, we have learned how to be great sisters. We challenge each other, build each other up and cheer each other on.
Jillian still has one more year of eligibility and Macy has two, so I am confident there will be more one-on-one games in the future. Honestly, we will still be playing one-on-one when we're 40.
I will always welcome those games because it's never been about who wins or loses. It's about the time we spend together and who we become along the way.
When Jillian and Olivia Brown's teams played each other, over 25 family members showed up for the game, including their younger sister and parents. (Photo courtesy of Olivia Brown)
