If you love bikinis, basketball, or women who get into both, Christmas has come early for you this year. The Miami Spice Bikini Basketball team has chosen its roster, and we're serving up photos and interviews of 12 of its newly named members. Consider it our Christmas gift to you.
Indianapolis born and raised, 23-year-old Catherine Gibson set her sights on sunny South Florida for grad school, gung ho about getting her hospitality degree. Playing ball all through high school and college left the natural athlete a little played out, so she gave her shooting skills a break and focused on studying.
But a recent move to MIA and Miami Spice tryouts got the ball-wielding beauty all fired up. "When I got to Miami I wanted to get back to playing basketball, and when the opportunity presented itself I was really happy and just tackled it and it actually worked for me," she says.
Her position? Power forward. And she'll likely hold on to that spot for Spice. "I think my role is more of motivation and encouragement and being an overall leader and example-setter," Gibson says.
When groups of women get together - cattiness often rears its ugly head. But not with Miami Spice, Gibson says. She digs the team's chemistry.
"In the basketball world it can be kind of catty. A lot of the girls know each other because they've played and grown up together, but I think they've seen enough of my abilities to know I have skills. That's the one thing that scared me about it - I was hoping that the girls would be open to me and they have been," Gibson adds.
In addition to studying, working at a South Beach resort and playing ball, she's is into the beach, being social, living a healthy lifestyle and spending time with her niece.
As far as her philosophy on life, Gibson says she lives by her favorite quote, penned by Henry Ford: "Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success."
"I'm the kind of person that when I wake up and when I go to sleep I just want my today to be better than my yesterday," she says. "So as long as I feel like i did something that moved me forward, I don't care what that is. As long as I'm doing something to always make me feel like I'm progressing, I'm 100% ok."
The 12 Girls of Bikini Basketball, so far:
Catch Gibson and the rest of her team when Bikini Basketball games start in 2013. Follow the team on Twitter @SpiceMiami.
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