WHEELING — Respectful. Humble. Down-to-earth. Appreciative. Just one of the girls.
Sadly those words don’t always get used — especially all at the same time — to describe superstar athletes. But Alexis Bordas isn’t your normal star. She’s a (respectful) wolf in sheep’s clothing once she steps onto that hardwood.
The daughter of Jamie and Stacy Bordas and an incoming freshman at Wheeling Park High School, Alexis has spent her summer criss-crossing the United States for the opportunity to attend camps and play in front of a Who’s Who of college basketball royalty. She’s been to places like North Carolina, Oklahoma, Ole Miss, Pitt, Penn State and Indiana, just to name a few. Yet through it all, the sweet-shooting left-hander remains as humble as they come on a daily basis.
“I get that from my parents, having seen their hard work and determination,” Alexis said. “It’s the reason I’m wanting to have success like I do, and achieve the goals that I’ve set. This is definitely what I want to be doing.”
Achieving goals, however, requires sacrifice. And to say there have been many in the Bordas household, would be an understatement.
Alexis goes to bed at roughly 9 p.m. and wakes every morning at 6:45 a.m. to get in a workout before school. Also an accomplished softball player, she gave up the sport a few years ago to concentrate solely on basketball.
“I’m usually the one saying ‘let’s take a day off to rest your legs a little bit,’ ” Jamie said. “She usually battles me on that and it’s kind of the other way around, trying to hold her back a little bit.”
It’s been tough on Stacy for a number of reasons as well. Alexis is the oldest of she and Jamie’s six children, and mom has always been there for everything her daughter has done. In fact, Stacy was Alexis’ softball coach and AAU coach, before the family decided to join the WV Thunder, which is based out of Huntington and led by the highly regarded Scott Johnson. As if having six children to plan around each week wasn’t enough of a logistical nightmare.
“It’s definitely hard because you want to be at everything she does,” Stacy said, “We split up, because we have to. (Jamie) has gone to most camps with her. I hate to miss any of my kids’ things. We have all these kids and can’t be at all these things. But we try to make it fun.”
A player doesn’t become an overnight sensation. There are long hours and very little free time involved. Jamie remembers when his thoughts changed from “this is a way for Alexis to be invo
lved” to “we may have something here.”
“I knew honestly from a very early age. Stacy was always her coach and she is a good teacher and coach, and could shoot with the best of them when she played,” Jamie said. “Once she got to around fourth grade, the drive and the passion and what she was doing showed that she enjoyed it. We were going to tournaments in places like Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and Cleveland and Alexis was going out there and playing better than anyone else. And I remember talking to Stacy that if this continues, she could be special.”
Jamie continued, “Then the summer between 6th and 7th grade she broke her ankle at AAU finals. When I saw how hard she rehabbed to get back out there in 6 weeks, I’m like she has the chance to be pretty special.”
Special, indeed.
Alexis is ranked as one of the top shooters in her class. West Liberty coach Kyle Cooper offered her a scholarship prior to her ever suiting up for a high school basketball game. And although she admits it’s not always easy, Alexis said she feels like she is on the right path.
“I really enjoyed playing softball and missed it a lot,” she said. “But I made the right decision. I was playing with my friends. My basketball teammates are also super close. Every single second of (traveling around the country) has been amazing. Every campus is unique. These coaches that have been following me, I interact with them. Even like the players that are playing college.”
One of the things that makes Alexis stand out on the court is her high-level basketball IQ. She always seems to be one or two steps ahead of the competition and isn’t afraid to share the basketball. Teams sometimes double- or triple-team her, but Bordas is just as happy with her teammate scoring as she is putting the ball through the hoop herself.
“Even if it’s my kid, if you have two or three kids around you then you have to toss the ball to the block for an easy basket,” Stacy said. “Her willingness to do that made her so easy to coach. Everything was fun with her.”
Just as it was difficult to choose to change AAU teams and to give up softball, the choice of where Alexis, who graduated last spring from St. Vincent de Paul, would ultimately end up for high school, was also not without its nervous moments.
“It was especially stressful for me because I’m the mom who worries about everything,” Stacy said. “We knew AAU and everything would help her achieve her goals, but I wanted to make sure she enjoys her entire high school experience.”
For Jamie, it was a little bit of a blessing and a curse.
“We have some really good choices in the local area, whereas in some places you go, there is only one school. There were multiple options,” he said. “I wanted to see who checked the academic boxes, and a number of schools did.
“There were even schools in Pennsylvania and Ohio and other places in West Virginia, where boosters were putting out feelers. That was a lot because she just turned 14 in May. A lot to think about. At the end of the day there were a number of good options. We let her have input and she was able to analyze things maturely.” Jamie continued, “She made out a list of pros and cons, but with anything in life at the end of the day, you could never be 100-percent sure of how something is going to go.”
It’s pretty easy to see where Alexis Bordas is going to go — straight to the top. And she’s intent on doing so with dignity and grace.
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