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HOO TO WATCH: MIKAYLA VENSON Mikayla Venson is very happy to be a Wahoo. After the 5-7 guard suffered a severe concussion in the third game of her sophomore season at Yorktown High in Arlington, Va., she wasn't certain she'd ever play basketball again. She did return to the court, but never competed again at the high school level. Her parents made the decision to home school Venson for the remainder of her high school career and train her. Despite not playing competitively on the high school level, Venson was the first top-35 player in the past five recruiting classes to play just one year of high school basketball and land at a major Division I pro- gram, according to Dan Olson, director of espnW HoopGurlz. "My dad always preached to me that coaches will find really good players," Venson said. "I wasn't really worried about colleges looking at me. My health was important and that came first. But I knew if I contin- ued to work hard, continued to work on my game, that when I went to camp I knew that would play a factor in getting noticed." Venson did get noticed with scholarship offers from the likes of Stanford, Tennessee and California. After her injury, her hope was to have the opportunity to continue playing hoops and earn an academic scholarship. Fortunately for the Hoos and Venson, Virginia wanted her. "I am very honored and blessed to be at UVa," she said. The person most responsible for her offers and opportunities was her father, Michael, a 1989 All-Met Player of the Year at Oxon Hill (Md.) who played collegiately at Georgetown and James Madison. Venson worked through intense training sessions with her dad twice daily, five days a week. They involved ball handling and shooting drills. "Whenever I used to workout with my dad, he always would have me do workouts that were 'game-like.' I was always going at a fast pace and getting a lot of shots up and reps in as if I was playing in a game." While training with her father, Mikayla would play basketball against boys and men at recreation centers and outdoor courts — the same courts where her father played. She competed at the AAU level as well. Venson added that the boys didn't take it easy on her. "They always came at me full force," she said. She's now practicing with her new teammates, back on the hardwood in the John Paul Jones Arena. Asked if she's worried about another concussion, the rookie point guard said no. "Basketball is physical and you can't get away from that, but there's no fear," Venson assured. "Once everything was over with and I went through that process, I got right back into it and was not afraid to get hit because I know that's going to happen. When you start being fearful, that's when things happen." — Greg Waters Venson was the first top-35 player in the past five recruiting classes to play just one year of high school basketball and land at a major Division I program. PHOTO BY MATT RILEY/COURTESY UVA