WXXV Student Athlete of the Week: Pass Christian’s Ariana Crimm
Our WXXV Student Athlete of the Week takes the saying eat, sleep, basketball, repeat to a whole new level, and she only recently picked up the rock in the sixth grade. Six years later she’s now a respected and vocal leader on her varsity team. Introducing Pass Christian’s very own, Ariana Crimm.
When it comes to sports, it doesn’t matter how or when you start. What matters is how you finish.
Ariana Crimm’s basketball journey may not have started until she was in the sixth grade, but she definitely didn’t take the easy route in.
“I started in a rec league and I played on an all boys rec team in the sixth grade,” said Crimm. “It definitely taught me toughness, and out there they didn’t treat me like I was a girl on a guys team. I was like one of the guys and they let me be one of them and they never ever gave me anything, so I earned everything I got.”
Ever since she picked up the rock, she simply never wanted to put it back down. She says her love for makes her strive to perfect her craft each and every day.
“The love came from the sixth grade. I didn’t want to do anything else. I was so obsessed. I used to sleep with a ball in the sixth grade. I had a ball right next to my bed just shooting trying to get my shot better and that’s kind of why I take so much pride in my form and my shot during the game,” said Crimm.
Whether it’s sun up or sun down, odds are Crimm is putting in work inside the Pass Christian gym. Her hardwork and dedication doens’t go unnoticed, especially to her head coach, Caroline Lumpkin.
“She’s the first one in the gym and last one in the gym. She’s a senior so she’ll grab and take the clothes from somebody and go wash them,” said Lumpkin. “She’s always wanting to get in the gym before anybody, Sunday through Saturday it doesn’t matter to her. She wants to be in the gym and that’s probably her best attribute is just being a gym rat and really loving the game.”
To her basketball is more than just a game, and a court is more than just a place. Being inside the paint is an escape for Crimm, and it’s where she feels the most like herself.
“I try to look at basketball as my source, kind of like a life coach. It’s kind of my built-in life coach,” said Crimm. “Everything out here is just like life just at a faster pace. I struggle sometimes with mental health. I’m a teen who’s growing up in this generation. Everyone struggles with mental health, but it kind of taught me how to let my anxieties go and just in between these four lines nothing else matters and I love that. I love just having that freeing feeling.”
As a senior, Crimm is holding on tight to her final season as Pirate, but both her and her coach are confident that this isn’t where her journey will see its end.
“She’ll definitely play at the next level. She’s got a few offers and several interests right now,” said Lumpkin. “She’s got all the tools and I don’t even think Arri has played her best basketball, yet honestly. I think she’ll get in with the right program, they’ll kind of help her mold and develop a little more and her better days are coming.”
“I want to take this game as far as it’ll let me,” said Crimm. “Most likely going to choose a community college first just for the financial reasons, but hopefully able to play division one basketball and maybe even a little pros after that.”
