NIL With Ava Jones
Last week, Iowa signed a letter of intent with Ava Jones.
A mutual friend connected the Jones family to us, and we're happy to create the first official NIL product for Ava as a Hawkeye!
Your typical NIL deal isn't often earth-shattering. And basketball players signing with teams also isn't often earth-shattering.
But the story of Ava Jones is truly incredible -- "both heartbreak and hope" as the Cedar Rapids Gazette calls it.
Jones commitment to coming back to basketball is inspiring. And Lisa Bluder's commitment to Jones is inspiring. "It's not just about basketball," Bluder says, "it's about integirty."
Ava getting all the way back isn't a forgone conclusion.
Back in October, it looked like she may never play basketball again:
But her belief in herself and Iowa's belief in her makes it hard not to root for her!
Now, Sports Isn't Everything...
If you pick your heroes just by profession -- athlete, artist, politician -- then you'll probably be let down.
There can be some real jerk athletes, artists, and politicians (sorry if you're just learning that! hashtag: spoiler alert).
But that doesn't meant there aren't heroes within those professions. There can be inspiring people everywhere.
One neat thing about workin on NIL projects is kind of getting to know some young athletes -- what they've been through, what drives them, and how they want to contribute.
Ava is one of the many amazing people we've been able to work with.
We've been amazed by some of the people we've met. We're amazed by what they put their minds to and what they want to do for their communities.
It makes us less likely to scream at them for falling short in a game. They're often times just young people trying their best. We hope they do well and are just happy to play a small role in their story!