As a former Grandview student and basketball star, Addi O’Grady now plays Division 1 basketball as a junior for the Iowa Hawkeyes. 

O’Grady’s commitment and dedication to basketball in addition to her climb to playing D1 has been an exhilarating but challenging experience. 

“The speed of the game is much faster and everybody is much stronger, you can stay upwards of 5-6 hours at the gym a day,” O’Grady said. “A lot more scouting and watching films and changing things you do to take advantage of specific mismatches.”

O’Grady’s hard work day in and day out since her freshman year is a critical piece leading up to her successes in the March Madness Championship game, not once but twice. 

“My confidence has grown a lot from freshman year and mentally I make fewer mistakes,” O’Grady said. “[After a tough loss] We know how hard it is to have a perfect season or perfect game. We just get back in the gym and continue working.”

Much of her life being occupied by basketball and needing to meet her high standards as an athlete, it can be a struggle balancing academics as well. 

“Balancing school and sports is the hardest thing that I have to deal with here,” O’Grady said “I’m majoring in chemical engineering and playing division one basketball which both are the most demanding academic and athletic programs.” 

Overcoming these challenges becomes easier with a supportive and reassuring environment from teammates, family and friends. 

“My roommates help with one being my teammates and another is a field hockey player and mechanical engineer so we understand each other and that makes it a lot easier.”

From this, O’Grady’s dual appearances in the March Madness championship does not fall short of special. 

“It’s incredible, I don’t think it will even sink in how crazy it is to make it back to back years for a while but it has been super exciting and such a fun experience!”

Making the championship for the second year in a row was even harder than making it the first year. 

“We lost two star starting players from last year and nobody thought we’d be as good but we ended up still making the same run and having even more success.”

O’Grady and the Hawkeyes’ spectacular playoff run has impacted women’s sports like no-one ever before. 

“We are constantly breaking viewership records and attendance records,” O’Grady said. “All of our home games were sold out long before the season even started with road games being sold out or breaking attendance records whenever we’d travel.” 

Not only has the Hawkeyes impacted women’s sports, but different sports across the country.

“We have changed how people, men and women, look at women’s sports. I don’t think there’s as much of an unfair contrast,” O’Grady said. “We are working towards equal respect for women’s and men’s sports.”