Each year, over 49,000 student athletes compete in college sports around the country and show great leadership, determination and stamina as they represent their universities.
6-feet-2-inch Lady Monarch forward Mairi Buchan is a great example of these qualities. The redshirt junior from Scotland is averaging 7.6 points per game and 4.3 rebounds per game this season and contributes with outstanding hustle plays.
As aforementioned, Buchan is from Scotland and is the first Scottish female player to attend a top-25 Division 1 university in the United States. As one could imagine, playing basketball in the United States is much different for Buchan.
“Here in America, the game is based on a lot more power and strength, “Buchan said. “In Europe, it’s kind of run the floor, run the offense, finesse kind of stuff.”
Buchan has done a great job of adjusting to a new style of play as this season she has scored a personal best of 16 points in a win over Georgia State as well as a career high tying nine rebounds in a win over James Madison University.
Many times, the “student” part in student-athlete is overlooked in college sports, but Buchan is an exception. The Biology and Pre-med double major was recently named to the Capital One Academic All-District team.
“I’ve always been kind of good at balancing academics,” Buchan said. “I don’t like to not have good grades, so it wasn’t a huge adjustment for me getting to college and balancing school and basketball.”
Mairi has been in a unique situation while at Old Dominion having had to adjust to several new coaching staffs and teammates during her time here, but has been able to take something from each one.
“My teammates are from a lot of different backgrounds, a lot of different cultures and it’s taken me a lot to learn how to deal with different attitudes and how attitudes can impact you,” Buchan said. “I have learned that you can’t be a college athlete and not work hard.”
As Buchan continues her daily quest to be the best player she can be, she has identified the strengths of her game as well as the things that she can improve upon. “My strengths are midrange shooting and three-point shooting.” This is evident as she is one of the team leaders in made three-point field goals.
“The weaknesses of my game would be defending penetration because a lot of times I stand up straight.”
Buchan has set some outstanding goals for herself. “This summer is an Olympic year, so my first goal is to make the training camp for that and just progress from there,” Buchan said.
Buchan enjoys a variety of activities when she is not busy studying or on the hard wood. She is a movie buff and enjoys working out in the gym in her spare time as well as reading psychology books.
“Confidence comes when you’ve done hard work to succeed.” Powerful quote and one that Buchan live by daily. A player with her work ethic surely knows how to put these words into practice as she continues to excel on the basketball court as well as in the classroom and make her university, teammates and coaching staff proud.
Jordan Jones
Contributing Writer
Photo: Chris Sampson
