UNC basketball player Alyssa Ustby is trying out different sports with other UNC athletes and posting the videos to Instagram.
Ustby was a multi-sport athlete in high school and wants to use her platform to highlight other sports besides basketball.
She has made videos with 15 different teams at UNC, including gymnastics, soccer, tennis, swimming, field hockey, wrestling and fencing.
Her videos have been well-received by the other athletes, who enjoy laughing at her attempts to learn their sports.
BIRMINGHAM, Alabama – University of North Carolina senior Alyssa Ustby may be breaking Tar Heels women’s basketball records during March Madness, but she also wants to “shine light on other sports at UNC, because UNC is known as a basketball school and we get a lot of attention.”
Her idea to get eyes on other UNC sports?
In 2022, she began trying another sport for a day, then posting videos on Instagram. She asks her fellow UNC athletes to showcase their skills in their respective sports. Then, she mimics them herself — or at least she tries to.
Ustby has done this with 15 different teams, but she’s not stopping there. After the basketball season is over, she has scheduled times to test her skills on the baseball field and the track.
“Football was super fun because I got to make the video with one of our best wide receivers and our quarterback, so that was pretty cool,” Ustby said. “And my brothers played football, so I’m versatile in catching and throwing.”
In addition to basketball, Ustby also excelled in soccer and softball in high school, allowing her to maneuver through many of the skills thrown at her easily.
“In high school I was a multi-sport athlete and a big advocate for younger kids to play multiple sports,” Ustby said. “Anytime we have camps, I always encourage girls: ‘If you’re not interested in choosing basketball, it’s OK, there are so many other sports, so many other things you can do.’ And that’s kind of where the thought came from.”
For her first test, Ustby put her basketball jersey aside and hopped on the beam and bars, trying to replicate the movements of the UNC gymnastics team.
“I want to show how talented the other girls are,” Ustby said.
After gymnastics, Ustby continued the trend with soccer, tennis and swimming before branching out to sports such as field hockey, wrestling and fencing.
Sometimes Ustby demonstrates her athleticism, while other times she makes a fool out of herself. But the real goal is just to have fun.
“I think in the volleyball one, I continued to try to save the ball and it took me five or six takes, and it was pretty ridiculous,” Ustby said. “The girls were having a blast just laughing at me. So that’s the whole point, is just to bring joy.”
The sport that brought her the least amount of joy?
“I hated swimming,” Ustby said. “I didn’t grow up swimming, so that one was really difficult.”
For now, her focus is on the basketball court, where No. 3 UNC is set to take on its biggest rival, No. 2 Duke, in the Sweet 16 on Friday – the first time the teams have met in the women’s NCAA Tournament.
Ustby has had a stellar tournament so far: She became UNC’s all-time leader in career rebounds (1,260) in a first-round game against Oregon State, and she scored a career-high 21 points in the second round against West Virginia.
Ansley Gavlak is a student in the University of Georgia’s Sports Media Certificate program.
