Heather Ernest, who played professional basketball in Europe for 5 years, came to WHS as a part of Winter Week on Friday. She told her story of trouble and triumph to students.

Her career started seriously in high school, where she quit soccer and softball to focus on basketball. “I set small goals for myself. First I wanted to make varsity as a freshman,” said Ernest. “Then when I did that, I wanted to start. Three games into the season I took the spot of a senior. After that, I wanted to win championships.”

After playing at her high school successfully for four years, Ernest received a scholarship to play  division 1 basketball at the University of Maine. People all around her doubted her potential. Newspapers said she could never play D1 basketball, that she was too small and not good enough. After a few games though, newspapers were saying something else: “She is the next big thing.”

In her junior year of college, she was invited to try out for the US national team, “I felt silly trying out with all these girls from big schools like UConn, LSU, and Texas. I didn’t make it, but I felt proud to be playing with girls like that,” said Ernest of the experience.

After college, Ernest was getting all kinds of offers to play basketball in Europe. She accepted one in Luxembourg, where she played for a couple of weeks. While she was there, her team was losing games. She was told that if she didn’t start playing better she would be fired. Then, while she was on a two week break for Christmas, Ernest got a call saying she was fired. “I was dumbfounded,” she said.

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Ernest then received more offers and ended up playing basketball in Germany. She got an agent who helped her with contracts and other business, while at the same time was a friend and watched out for her. She learned German, which made living in the country easier. In Europe, said Ernest, “I played for about three hours a day and got paid, which was great.”

After playing in Europe for five years, Ernest moved back to the US. Now she is the Junior Varsity coach at Dover-Sherbon High School, and she teaches individual workouts for players who want to work on their skills. Ernest described a desire to do anything related to the sport, saying,  “I have a huge passion for the game of basketball.”

“Playing professional basketball has opened so many doors for me,” she said. “It was amazing.”