Senior ready to return to court
Shea High’s Santos will play again for Mitchell College
PAWTUCKET – It had always been sitting there in the back of Yasmine Santos’ mind; in fact, it’s been a goal of hers since she first walked through the Shea High School front doors her freshman year.
In one of her three selected sports, she desperately wanted to win a championship.
It didn’t matter which one – soccer, basketball or softball. One would suffice, and she’d be proud to have been given something back to her eventual alma mater.
Santos, a t gifted student-athlete who lives in the shadows of the East Avenue institution, believed this past winter that her senior hoop campaign could bring such a title, as the Raiders had loads of returning talent.
“We were on the right path, making the playoffs, but then we lost to Cumberland (50-39 in a state Division II preliminary),” she sighed recently. “Right after that, I was so angry because I really thought we had the chance to go far into the playoffs. Then we lost, so that was gone, and I was sad.
“That’s why I was extra-motivated for my final softball season,” she added. “I was going to go for my dream one last time. I had already started working out a couple of weeks before (softball) started, working on strengthening my arms and my core. I remember my freshman year, our soccer coach told us if you had a strong core, you’ll have better balance, and that’s what I wanted for softball.”
Then came Thursday, April 23, when Gov. Gina Raimondo announced that schools would remain closed for the rest of the school year, and “distance learning” would continue. As soon as Santos found out, her heart skipped a beat.
“I was following the Rhode Island Interscholastic League on Intagram, and when I found out, I didn’t believe it at first – I thought there must be some mistake,” she stated. “I had (previously) been hopeful we could salvage some kind of season, then have some kind of playoff tournament. That’s why I continued to train.
“But no. When (head coach Steve) Cooper texted us in our group chat, that’s when I knew, and I just kept staring at it. I didn’t believe it; I didn’t want to believe it, anyway. I never thought, ‘This is ridiculous. We don’t deserve this,’ because I understand the circumstances, but still a part of me was thinking, ‘What if?’”
She explained the closest she ever got to winning a state crown occurred her freshman year in basketball, when Shea reached the final. The Raiders, however, lost to Wheeler at Rhode island College.
“Last year, our softball team made the playoffs, but we lost to Ponaganset,” recalled Santos, who would have been a quad-captain and catcher for the softball squad. “That’s why this season was my most important; it was my last chance to do it. My team goal for us was to make the playoffs, then win that first game, then who knew how far we could go?
“I mean, if we could have won the state championship (this spring), that would have been so great, a dream come true! Now it’s gone.”
Santos nevertheless is trying to quell that disappointment by looking ahead. She was spending her time finishing up schoolwork in her finals days as a SHS student, training and trying to stay distracted by watching TV or playing video games.
It’s really a shame, as Santos produced a lot of memorable moments while performing for her Raiders. In soccer, she spent all four years as a starting center back, and earned all-division laurels three times. On the basketball court, she achieved all-division honors all four seasons; and, in softball, she captured all-division accolades as a junior.
She claimed she’s still training because she has to, as she will attend Mitchell College in New London, Conn. beginning in August – and represent the women’s basketball team.
“That’s helped a lot – preparing for college,” she said. “I’ve been in touch with the head coach, Courtney Burns, and I think she’s excited about it, too. They’ve been following me since my junior year and keeping in touch.
“We kept in touch, continued to talk, and Coach Burns and some assistants came out to a couple of my games,” she added. “They told me how much they liked the way I played and how much they wanted me to play for Mitchell, and I was excited about that.
“At first, I didn’t know much about the school, but I researched it; I looked up their class sizes, and the professor-to-student ratio was about 15-to-1. I immediately thought that was my kind of school. It appealed to me because I like to have oneon-one time available with a teacher just in case I need it. That’s what ruled out going to a bigger school.”
That fact is surprising, considering Santos will finish her senior year with a No. 3 class rank, just missing valedictorian and salutatorian honors.
She will major in psychology, in part because she took a class at Shea and rather enjoyed it, though there’s another story behind it, too.
“It’s kind of funny, but when I was a junior playing basketball, we used to have to wait for our coach (John Lickert) to get out of work, so our practices would start at 5 (p.m.),” she explained. “So when we got out of school, my teammates would come over to my house to wait out after school.
“We started watching a TV show called ‘Criminal
Minds,’ and it really fascinated me, how the (forensics) team could figure out why people what they did, why they acted those ways,” she continued. “I wanted to study that in school. I thought about going into the forensics side of it, but now I someday want to be a child psychologist.”
“As for now, I continue to work out; some days I focus on strengthening different part of my body – legs, arms, core, while other days I’ll run the boulevard. It helps me take my mind off what happened. I’m also looking forward to going to Mitchell. I can’t wait to begin hanging out with the other girls and start to develop relationships with them.”