Tayler Holmes, a sophomore psychology major, is a student-athlete who juggles her studies, social life and family obligations, all while excelling on the court. Holmes must find time to not only be a full-time student, friend and starter for the women’s basketball team but a mother as well.
Holmes grew up in Mount Laurel, N.J., where she lived for the majority of her life. Holmes believes that she’s simply an ordinary person with an ordinary life.
“I’m pretty normal, I guess,” Holmes said. “I hang out with my friends, play basketball, hang out with my son and just do normal things.”
Giving credit to her mother and sister, Holmes describes her journey through college as a team effort that helps take a lot of the weight off of her.
“It’s definitely difficult but something that is to be done,” Holmes said. “I wouldn’t just credit myself. It’s really like a big effort.”
Fellow teammates applaud Holmes for being the woman that she is. “I think she’s an overall good teammate and she’s very dedicated to her obligations, on and off the court,” Brandi Johnson, women’s basketball teammate of Holmes, said. “Being a full-time student-athlete and being a parent just shows how strong of a person she really is.”
Holmes has been playing basketball since the fourth grade. She and her younger sister, who also enjoys the sport, were inspired by their father. Holmes claims that though she wasn’t the best athlete when she started. She was one of the taller girls on the court and that made her coach start her out at the center position.
She progressively enjoyed the sport more when she started to become better at it. “When you’re good at something, you like doing it and it just kind of [sticks],” Holmes said.
Her father may have introduced her to the sport but her mother was the one that helped her out. “That’s probably every mom, you know, helping you out and pushing you and wanting you to be that much better,” Holmes said. “My mom, you would think she played basketball but she never picked up a ball in her life.”
Holmes has most recently been added to the starting lineup for the women’s basketball team due to her progress on the court. She claims that starting gives her a lot more confidence and that she is very appreciative of her new status because of how hard she’s works for it.
As a player on the court, Holmes believes that she can be aggressive at times and sees herself as a defensive player. “We’re all a team. It doesn’t matter who’s starting [or] who’s coming off the bench, we all play Cabrini basketball no matter who’s on the court,” Holmes said.
In the off season, she likes to improve on her work out and get in shape. She also stressed how next season, the team will have to work even harder. “We are losing two pivotal players. It’s just going to be a lot of big goals that all of us need to step in and throw, so, I’m going to try to work on that.”
This season, Holmes has played 19 games with an average of 21.2 minutes per game. She also averages 5.7 points and 3.5 rebounds per game.
Holmes is aspiring to find a job in her major and be able to settle down and take care of her 5-year-old son.
