Nicki Jones: Plan A or Plan B?

Photos and story by Jake Lapin

SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- With a cap on her head and a smile on her face, Nicki Jones walks into Newhouse building three towards the common area. At 6'1", she is easily the tallest woman in the room.

Only a few weeks into her Television-Radio-Film graduate program at Syracuse, Jones is adjusting to the student life once again following a few years overseas.

Born and raised in Rochester, N.Y., Jones received a full scholarship to play point guard at the University of Massachusetts. After a couple years of frustration surrounding the team and the city, she says she decided to transfer after her sophomore season to Drexel University. It was there where her love for basketball and city life returned.

"I loved it," Jones said. "Drexel is amazing. I love the city of Philadelphia."

Jones finished out her undergraduate playing days in Philly before continuing her career overseas in p Germany, Sweden and Turkey. However, she says an ACL tear her senior year of college taught her a valuable life lesson.

"Basketball does not last forever," Jones said. "No one can play basketball their whole entire life, so I needed to have a Plan B."

It started with a vlog, or video blog. Jones started filming her vlog as a hobby during her playing days in Turkey, and she discovered her love for appearing on camera. That's when it clicked that Plan B for Jones was graduate school at Syracuse, or so she originally thought.

"Well, initially basketball was my Plan A, Newhouse was my plan B," Jones said. "Basketball is my Plan B now that I'm here at Newhouse... Newhouse is my Plan A and I think within this program I have A, B, C, D and E ."

A return to professional basketball could still be in the cards; however, Jones is enjoying her transition into the life of a graduate student and the sports broadcasting possibilities that lie ahead.




Interview: Audio


Jake: Alright here we go, this is Jake Lapin along with Nicki Jones here, and Nicki go ahead and just tell me about yourself, the basics so far.

Nicki: Basics about me, I am from Rochester, N.Y., born and raised there. I went to Drexel University for undergrad. I actually went to, I'm sorry, I went to University of Massachusetts first for two years, transferred to Drexel for three, took some time off before coming to Newhouse.

Jake: And why the transfer?

Nicki: I played basketball at UMass. I had a full scholarship for undergrad, so I went to UMass for two years and I didn't really like it so much. I wanted to be more in the city area and there was a lot of complications with the team so I ended up transferring to Drexel.

Jake: Okay, and what was your Drexel experience like?

Nicki: I loved it. Drexel is amazing. I love the city of Philadelphia. My coaches, my teammates, everyone who was around the team, the staff, everyone-- everyone was just amazing, so it definitely helped.

Jake: You mentioned this break, what was that about?

Nicki: After I graduated, I went overseas for a couple years to play. So, I graduated in 2013. I went overseas for two years before coming back home before coming here to Newhouse.

Jake: Where overseas?

Nicki: I had contracts in Germany, Turkey and Sweden. I also visited Czech Republic, Italy and El Salvador.

Jake: Any notable stories in all those countries?

Nicki: I absolutely hated Turkey, I did not like it at all. Germany was probably my favorite place where my contract was. I was there for 10 months. And Sweden I loved the people, the culture was just amazing. Everyone was so nice it almost made me feel uncomfortable everyone was so nice, it was kind of weird.

Jake: Playing professional basketball, I mean, how's that feeling being a professional athlete? That's pretty cool.

Nicki: It is cool. I mean, as a basketball player, you know starting out when you're younger, that's the ultimate goal, but my ideal goal going into it wasn't kind of... go because I have the ability to play, but more the experience of living in a different country, so that was my priority was to get to live there and, you know, for free, you don't have any worries about money and living and bills and all that stuff, you just kind of go on with your life.

Jake: Do you think your playing days are unfortunately over?

Nicki: Don't say that! I wouldn't say it's over, I would just say I have moved on, I like that phrase better. I can still go back and play if I want to. For my position and my height, for some reason they really enjoy tall, American women to play, so even if I played at a lower level team I could definitely could go back and do that if I wanted to.

Jake: So that's definitely a possibility?

Nicki: It's a possibility, but that's not my priority.

Jake: So how are you adjusting to not playing all the time now? What's that been like?

Nicki: At first, I couldn't really wrap my head around it. I was kind of planning for this transition going into my second year overseas. While I was in Turkey I was actually applying for graduate school here in Newhouse, but overall it hasn't been that hard because I've been so busy with school and working so I've kind of been distracted from realizing that I'm not playing, so it wasn't too bad.

Jake: How did you end up in Syracuse?

Nicki: Well, when I was in Germany my first year, after it--once it started getting cold outside, we were in the house a lot because it was cold, we didn't want to go out, so we would wake up, go to practice, come home take a nap, go back to practice, come back and sleep, like that's all we did, so I needed something to do. I've always had a hobby with documenting things, so I got this camera that I have and I started a vlog on YouTube. So my vlog was basically documenting my experience overseas, like when I was in Turkey for example, I had--did taste test Tuesday videos every Tuesday, taste different Turkish food and drinks like Turkish tea, Turkish coffee, things like that, and thats when I realized that I enjoyed being in front of the camera, so it kind of turned into coming to Newhouse to pursue a career with sports broadcasting/sideline reporting, kind of things like that.

Jake: So, possibly sideline reporting, possibly returning to basketball. I mean, what are your career goals here?

Nicki: Well, my mindset with this is... I turned my ACL my senior year of college, and I didn't have a plan B, so this time with, you know, going more, further with professional basketball, I wanted to make sure I had a Plan B. I don't wnat to be stuck, you know, going crazy not knowing whats next. So planning to come back to school is really my Plan B, well now basketball is my Plan B now that I'm here at Newhouse, but you know, just have a backup plan because basketball does not last forever. No one can play basketball their whole entire life, so I needed to have a Plan B. After basketball, come here and I kind of want to stay connected to the sport.

Jake: So which is Plan A, which is Plan B? I don't know if you know.

Nicki: Well, initially basketball was my Plan A, Newhouse was my plan B. Did that make sense? So now, Newhouse is my Plan A and I think within this program I have A, B, C, D and E with Newhouse, because if I tear my ACL, I can still work in a studio, like it's still possible, so it doesn't--getting injured doesn't limit my career, if that makes sense.

Jake: Okay, I think I got it. Thank you very much.