Maddie Altman, graduate student, grad assistant and guard basketball player, has demonstrated her talents and skills on and off the John Brown University basketball team. From Denver, Colorado, Altman was able to complete four majors while scoring points in the JBU team these past few years. Playing basketball has been a big part of her life and she has undoubtedly demonstrated her commitment to both her academic life and her athletic life.
Now pursuing her MBA, she completed Finance, Data Analytics, Marketing and Management majors in May of 2022. At the same time, Altman played on the basketball team from her freshman year at the University until now and used to regularly plan and organize to balance her duties. “I used to work ahead of time in my assignments,” Altman asserts, referring to how she managed her tasks, “I also took advantage of any free time like bus rides, I liked just being intentional with my time.”
When reminiscing about all her years of playing, Altman said that her best experience about belonging to the basketball team was being able to build friendships: “When I came to JBU I didn’t know anyone so it was great to be able to come and feel like you belong to a family.” Altman’s experience with the basketball team includes challenges like a competitive environment while also having fellowship. She remarks, “I love our team, we are all super close” she also states, “It may sound cliché but we have a really good team culture and we are really good friends.”
While Altman played basketball since she was in second grade, she also practiced soccer, golf, tennis and even gymnastics throughout her life. However, she says that basketball has been her true passion. Looking back at her high school experience, her high school coach was a huge role model in her life. JBU recruited Altman during her junior year of high school, “I was really grateful for the opportunity to continue playing beyond high school, I enjoy basketball a lot.” To this day, Altman holds a record of 119 games played and a total of 2687 minutes, according to the JBU Athletics website.
In her most recent game against North Texas at Dallas, Altman was able to score and opened up a 63-44 advantage with just under four minutes left in the game. “The season is going great, we are doing good,” commented Altman. The team is now in fourth place among the teams in the Sooner Athletic Conference, “We are hoping to stay at the fourth position to be able to host.”
After four years playing, Altman is leaving the team next year after she finishes her MBA. “I’ll be sad when it’s over, but I plan to enjoy my last time off before starting with the real working world.” She is not planning to keep playing competitively, yet she is sure she will continue to enjoy her basketball passion. “I know there’s other ways to stay in the game, I might coach somewhere with friends or maybe my brother!”