Meet Izzy Sullivan, the Dublin-born guard for the University of Nevada. Izzy left Ireland with her family at age 2 and moved to Washington. Izzy's cousin Kate is an All-Ireland Champion with Dublin, so sporting success is no stranger to the Sullivans!
She found immediate collegiate success in Nevada, winning a school-record four Mountain West Freshman of the Week Awards, as well as making the cut for the 2023-2024 Mountain West Division 1 Freshman Team! She was also listed as an honourable mention for the All-Mountain West Team - in her first year playing for Nevada!
Her Sport had the chance to ask Izzy a few questions about her life as an elite college athlete. Here's what she had to say:
Can you share a bit about your personal journey to playing basketball in Nevada? How did it all come together?
Growing up I started playing for my local youth basketball program, with both me and my family not really knowing much about basketball. However, around the age of 9 I really started to fall in love with the sport and began to play at the club level and really develop and grow as a player. I then started playing for my local high school, Eastside Catholic in Sammamish, Washington. During the Spring/Summer months in the US, club basketball teams (Amateur Athletic Union-AAU) travel during the to play tournaments against each other. These tournaments are viewing or showcase opportunities for college coaches to come and see players they want to recruit to play college level basketball. This is where I got connected to the Nevada coaching staff as part of the recruiting process.
What inspired you to pursue basketball at such a high level, and who were your biggest influences growing up?
I used to watch a lot of University of Washington women's basketball in Seattle, so I was a big fan of Kelsey Plum who was one of their greatest players of all time. She really inspired how I play and my determination to play at the next level. I have wanted to play high level basketball since middle (primary) school. When I got to high school, I kind of realized it could be a reality. Now that it's really here, it's just cool to see it come full circle and I want to just give back to the kids who were like me when I was that age. Recently we played a game in front of 10,000 Reno Nevada school kids so it is great to be an inspiration to the younger generation to play sports like basketball and inspire young female athletes.
How did you first connect with Nevada's basketball program, and what stood out to you about the team or school?
I was playing in an AAU club tournament in California where the Nevada coach was attending and watching our games. Coach Levens reached out to me following the tournament to discuss opportunities at the University of Nevada Women’s Basketball team. The relationship I had with the coaching staff was a big piece, and also the engineering program really stood out to me because I'm a computer science major, so meeting the girls, meeting the coaches in person and getting to know them, it all just felt like home, so I think I made the right choice with that one.
