By Mike Clark
Diann Jackson never had a passport before this year because she didn’t need one.
That changed when the Kenwood senior spent most of her summer vacation outside of the country, playing in a pair of international basketball events for Puerto Rico.
First it was off to Colombia from June 17-23 for the U18 Americup, and then it was off to Mexico from July 13-21 for the U17 World Cup.
It didn’t take long for Jackson to understand how much there is to see outside the U.S. borders.
“I really loved it because it really showed me how big the world is,” Jackson said at Kenwood’s media day on Nov. 16.
And yet, how sports also is such a unifying force all over the Americas.
“My first night out there (in Colombia), everybody in the streets is beating on our bus,” Jackson said. “They just won a soccer game and soccer is very big internationally. So they (were) just going crazy.
“It was very different, but I really liked it because it really expanded my knowledge of the world.”
It also helped her basketball game. Jackson averaged 8.2 points, 9.5 rebounds and 1.5 steals in the Americup before contributing 7.9 ppg and 6 rpg at the World Cup.
There was a lot to get used to. Team Puerto Rico was a mix of players from the island and from the mainland.
“About half the team was from Puerto Rico and it was a language barrier between us,” Jackson said. “But we got along very well with Google Translate. And half the team was from different places across the United States: New York, Texas, North Carolina.”
The international game also is different from what Jackson was used to.
“The ball is very different out there,” Jackson said. “It’s still the same size, but it’s very bouncy and heavy. It feels like a men’s ball. And (we were) playing in an arena all the time so it was a bigger floor as well. So it did take some time (for) me getting used to getting up and down. And I was playing a lot of minutes too.”
The other difference is — unlike in most high-school games — Jackson, at 6-foot-2 was not always the tallest player on the court.
“Competition-wise, the game out there is very physical,” Jackson said. “I feel like I was getting beat up every day out there, especially playing against bigger girls. … Team USA, their point guard was my size. It was very crazy, but I’m just grateful for having the experience of playing against them.”
That said, Jackson was definitely ready to come back to Chicago when the tournaments were done.
“I was gone literally the whole summer,” she said. “So I did get a lot of homesick.”
Kenwood coach Andre Lewis saw one particular change in Jackson when she got back home.
“The thing is, she stretches now for real, and it was amazing,” Lewis said with a smile. “She will sit and stretch for 20 minutes before she grabs a basketball.
“But on a more serious note, it allowed her to mature, playing with older kids, playing with international players and the best from around the world. I see just a different level of seriousness from her, and she really takes her craft more seriously than she did before.”
There’s no question how seriously Jackson and her teammates take this season. The Broncos are one of the state’s elite programs with 55 wins the past two years and an active run of three straight regional titles.
Jackson, a University of Buffalo commit, is one of a number of Division I prospects on a veteran roster that includes seven seniors and five juniors. She averaged 8.8 points and 7.6 rebounds last season.
Kenwood and Young have one of the state’s best rivalries, meeting seven times over the past three seasons with Young winning four, including the last three Public League title games. But the Broncos have ended the Dolphins’ season each of the past two years in the IHSA playoffs.
“Whitney Young, that’s a great team,” Jackson said. “I respect them.”
But winning city and making a deep run in the state playoffs are at the top of the to-do list for Jackson and Kenwood. And thanks to her busy summer, she feels ready for the challenge.
