When Lexi Eberhardt began playing basketball as a five-year-old at the Chilson Recreation Center in Loveland, it was the beginning of a love for the sport that would carry her through high school and beyond.
At Loveland High, Lexi played basketball all four years, in addition to playing for a club team 90 minutes away and participating in track at LHS. At just 5’6” tall, Lexi said being shorter just made her more determined to put in the work and effort to be successful.
“It wasn’t easy. I have a really close group of girlfriends and friends. I didn’t get to go to the movies or go shopping or hang out with them a lot,” Lexi says. “In the long run though, I think it definitely paid off because I’m where I am today.”
Where Lexi is today is in the middle of her junior year majoring in communications with a minor in sports management at Colorado State University, where she also played basketball for two years before deciding this year it was time to move to the coaching side of her beloved sport.
“I really grew as a person, and I felt like it taught me how to work harder”
“It was pretty sweet, the opportunity I had there. I’m very fortunate, and I wouldn’t trade it for the world,” Lexi says. “I really grew as a person, and I felt like it taught me how to work harder … instilled a better work ethic in me.” Lexi says that going from playing every minute of every game as a varsity high school athlete to spending much less game time on the court as a college athlete taught her how to bounce back from hard times and how to be accountable.
Then this year, after all those years of playing, Lexi says it was time for a change of pace and she decided to transition from playing to coaching. “I knew if I was going to be done, I needed to still be around it. I have so much passion for basketball and what it’s done for me.”
As the assistant varsity coach at Loveland High, Lexi’s main role is to teach the guards, which was her primary position all through her playing years.
“To me, it’s important that the girls are playing hard and doing great on the court, but off the court I also want them to work hard in the classroom. I want them to be respectful to the community and people around them. Being an overall good person can really take you far in life.”
Lexi learned many of these lessons playing basketball, but she also has a very tightknit family that she credits with making her who she is. Lexi comes from an athletic, competitive family, including her father, who played on a state championship football team and played football in college, a mother who was a dancer and played basketball, an older brother who played football at Loveland High School and for the University of Wyoming, and twin younger sisters who Lexi now coaches at LHS.
“I never thought I’d have the opportunity to coach my sisters, but it’s the best thing in the world,” Lexi says. “They’re great humans and I love it.”
With a goal of one day being the head coach of her own team, Lexi said she is so grateful for the opportunities Title IX has created in her life.
“Going through this process and playing sports is proof that Title IX works,” Lexi says. “I’m proof that it does. Everything that’s happened has made me a better person, and I wouldn’t be playing and now coaching basketball if it weren’t for Title IX. It really gives females an opportunity to do the same thing as males.”
