Northridge girls basketball center Aubree Reeve stays busy with certified nursing program, training
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- Northridge High girls basketball center Aubree Reeve shoots a layup during practice on Friday, Feb. 10, 2023, at Northridge High School in Layton.
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- Northridge High girls basketball center Aubree Reeve passes the ball during practice on Friday, Feb. 10, 2023 at Northridge High School.
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- Northridge High girls basketball center Aubree Reeve holds two basketballs during practice on Friday, Feb. 10, 2023 at Northridge High School.
LAYTON — Basketball coaches like to mention their stress level and blood pressure when the season hits its business end due to things like playoff implications, key player injuries and the toll of the season all coming to a head in February.
As it just so happens, if anyone in the Northridge High girls basketball program is even remotely curious about their blood pressure or vital signs, Aubree Reeve can probably tell them.
Reeve has taken on a lot of things this season on top of starting at center for the Knights. Between October and January, she completed an intense certified nursing assistant class at Davis Technical College on her path to becoming a CNA.
Reeve had three-hour night classes five days per week at Davis Tech on top of homework for the CNA class and high school homework.
Her Northridge school day went from 7:30 a.m. to 2:20 p.m., then Reeve would go to basketball practice, go home afterward for about 45 minutes to do homework, then drive to Kaysville for night class, then return home and do more homework, hopefully get to bed by midnight, wake up at 6 a.m. the next day and try to stay awake during first-period English class.
“There was a lot of time where Friday nights were rough and Saturdays, I’d have to do homework that I’d missed early in the week. So I had to like miss a lot of family stuff and hanging out with friends a lot,” Reeve said.
She passed the CNA class, then did clinical training at South Davis Community Hospital in Bountiful and is about to start an internship at McKay-Dee Hospital in pediatrics, which will last through the school semester. Later this month, she’ll take written and skills exams that, if she passes, will grant her a CNA certification.
Reeve has been busy but it was something she wanted to do. She took an introduction to health science class as a sophomore, loved the class, then took an emergency medical response (EMR) class last year and loved that one, too.
“Medical stuff really fascinates me. I’ve always loved the human body and how it works,” Reeve said. “I was talking to my friend who’s a nurse and she’s like, get started as soon as you can because the more hours you get, the more experience you have and the more that you can do.”
It’s not unheard of for high school students to go through a CNA program, though it’s not exactly common either, given the subject matter and time commitment. It’s apparently less common for someone to complete a CNA course and go through the subsequent CNA certification processes while also playing a sport.
Between the time when her CNA class ended and when her internship starts, Reeve has enjoyed a reprieve in her Northridge schedule that includes home releases at the start and end of the day.
“I start at 8:55 a.m., it’s so nice, and then go to my classes, lunch, tutorial, then I leave at like 12, then I come back at 3:30 for practice. It has saved my life,” Reeve said.
Even though Reeve has been late to some basketball games while still needing to change out of her nurse scrubs, Reeve has been grateful to have the chance to play basketball at all.
“It’s almost like a stress relief because having so much to do after it, with like schoolwork and such, it was just really nice to get in there and just not have to think about anything school-wise and just focus in,” Reeve said. “They always say exercise releases endorphins or whatever, so it was just nice to move because of all the time I just spent sitting. I feel like if I didn’t have basketball I’d lose my mind.”
Northridge coach Chris Smith said he’s supported Reeve from the start, knowing that she wouldn’t be able to be at 100% of basketball obligations.
“She’s a true leader on our team, as far as kind of carrying that load. It just shows the fact that she’s got good resilience to do that while going to school and while playing a sport,” Smith said. “I mean, a lot that of being done after school hours, you’ve got to have fortitude for that.”
Reeve had surgery on her left knee as a sophomore to replace the tendon that keeps her kneecap in place, recovered faster than expected, then fractured the underside of her right kneecap last year, an injury that needed rest and time to heal, she said.
The knee injuries were at a point where she was close to 100% at the start of the season and haven’t slowed her down that much.
So far, Reeve has been one of Northridge’s most consistent rebounders, averaging 7.3 boards per game through the team’s first 14 games to go with 4.3 points per game.
Reeve posted a season-high 14 rebounds against Mountain Ridge in January and a season-high of 10 points twice in games against Roy and Corner Canyon.
The Knights may need her down the stretch as they seek to solidify their playoff seed — that will be somewhere between 8-11 — while leading scorer Madison Hosino sits with an ankle injury.
Even though Reeve hasn’t been at everything basketball-related, Smith said he’s happy she’s around in any sort of capacity.
Connect with reporter Patrick Carr via email at pcarr@standard.net, Twitter @patrickcarr_ and Instagram @standardexaminersports.
