Boston College women’s basketball opened its 2022–23 season on Monday, defeating UMass Lowell 81–53. In the victory, four of the Eagles’ five starters scored at least 10 points.
But leading up to the Eagles’ opening-day win, it wasn’t just BC’s players and coaches putting in the work in the gym. Behind the scenes, another group of students was doing its part to ensure the Eagles’ success.
Women’s basketball practice players, a select group of players who aren’t student-athletes, participate in the Eagles’ practices, primarily in foundational drills and as the scout team in scrimmages.
Christian Peterson, a women’s basketball practice player and MCAS ’23, said he was selected for the job because of his experience as a basketball player and participation on BC’s men’s club basketball team.
“A couple of guys [on the club team] who are a year older than me did it,” Peterson said. “So I saw they were getting gear, and they’re hanging out with players, so I just asked them about it and they gave me a coach’s number.”
Women’s basketball utilizes non-student-athletes as practice players, while men’s basketball uses walk-on players to fill the same role, according to Peterson.
In addition to participating in fundamental drills, practice players study BC’s opponents and attempt to replicate their strengths and weaknesses to prepare the Eagles for their games, Peterson said.
Grant Cosovich, another women’s basketball practice player and MCAS ’23, said practice players have a choice in how much they play with the team.
“It’s pretty much the commitment you make it,” Cosovich said. “You decide based on your schedule and what work you have that day whether you’re available.”
For Cosovich, seeing the ways his participation helps improve BC’s performance is an incentive to commit more of his time to practicing with them.
“You feel like you’re helping the team and seeing these players develop,” Cosovich said. “There’s always going to be things that you have to improve to help out.”
Practice players sometimes receive team gear or food from coaches, but they don’t receive any financial compensation for their work. The greater time commitment practice players put into playing with the Eagles, the more gear they receive, according to head coach Joanna Bernabei-McNamee.
When selecting practice players, Bernabei-McNamee looks for talented former high school players at BC who can challenge her athletes on the court.
“[Practice players] need to be competitive, but not so competitive that you don’t understand what your purpose is, which is to make us the best team that we can be,” Bernabei-McNamee said.
Most importantly, though, she said that these players’ character makes them an asset to her team.
“The character of students that Boston College attracts is what makes our scout guys,” she said. “They’re good people. I think that’s partly because at Boston College, there’s just a higher standard of character that all the students have.”
Bernabei-McNamee said she hopes that BC’s practice players get something out of the experience including the potential to launch a career in coaching.
The work of practice players put in is important, Cosovich said, but said that it is not as significant as the work BC’s varsity athletes put into their sport.
“If they win, it’s a testament to the work [the players] have put in obviously,” Cosovich said. “We’re a part of helping but don’t want to take too much credit.”
But if BC ever won a championship, Bernabei-McNamee said she’d make sure her practice players get a ring too.
