The Girls Behind Basketball On the Reservation
What it means to them to be playing a sport that is being dominated by women
Naabeehó Bináhásdzo
(Navajo Nation)
The Navajo Nation is about 25,000 square miles. It is located in the southwest of the United States and covers New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah. It is a vast open land with only gas stations, occasional grocery stores, and flea markets every few hundred miles. People travel hundreds of miles to the nearest city for weekly errands.
Use the map below to zoom in on some of the communities on the Navajo Nation.
Community, resiliency, pride, and determination are all the words used to describe basketball as a lifeline for people on the Navajo reservation. Sometimes, it’s the only thing people look forward to seeing on the reservation. This is due to how accessible the sport is for many families on the reservation.
But overall, it’s the culture that carries the sport. Although the Navajo Nation is so large, it consists of people who welcome and celebrate one another. People who will travel hours and wait in line for hours just to see their local rez school play in a district or state tournament. Any visibility and recognition for the rez is win for all.
Even more factors go into why basketball is such a prominent sport, but all you need is a basketball and a hoop–you don’t even need a gym. Many people have made their makeshift hoops simply using a hoop and a metal ring.
This is what makes “rez ball” so unique. Every person can find a way to play ball without the proper equipment or space.
But for many young athletes, it’s used as a form of escapism. Drug and alcohol addiction run rampant on the rez. Along with mental health illnesses, they are at a much higher rate than any other American group.
Three Different Girls, Three Different Visions
Young women navigating the meaning of basketball in their lives.
Many other factors contribute to why a player plays their heart out on the court. Each of these girls found a driving motivation to fuel their play on the court. Some are looking to make it to the next level, while others use their basketball knowledge to apply to their everyday and academic lives.
As women’s sports become a phenomenon worldwide, they’re also growing in popularity on the Navajo Nation—something that hasn’t been seen before. But specifically for basketball.
All across the reservation, one thing that everyone can talk about is one sport. Basketball. But there’s been a shift in the attention paid to women’s basketball on the rez. These three girls are making their own on and off the court, hoping inspire the next generation but honoring their own dreams.
“It’s okay to fail and make mistakes, nobody is perfect, because in the end they have to prioritize themselves and their mental health,” says Johnson on what she would share with fellow Native kids.
Photo Courtesy: Erika Johnson
Erika Johnson is from White Rock, New Mexico. She is a sophomore majoring in Health Promotion and Disease Prevention at USC. Although she had hopes of playing at the next level, she came to a realization that wasn’t realistic for her. But she found a different option, which was using the teachings role models from her high school basketball days to carry her though academic career at USC.
It can be hard to escape toxic cycles on the reservation. One of these cycles involves getting involved with the wrong crowd at an early age, which can alter their life trajectory. Johnson faced this predicament in the sixth grade, but had it not been for her middle school basketball coach.
“I started hanging out with the wrong crew, like you know, the little wannabe gangbangers,” says Johnson. “Like my friends were always in fights and stuff, but I always stood out because I was the one with straight A’s.”
She explains that at a parent-teacher conference, the coach told her parents that Johnson needed to get out of that friend because he felt it would lead her in the wrong direction. Her parents took this seriously and suggested she try basketball.
“So I did basketball, and I guess saved me, in a sense. I don’t know where I would have been if I didn’t have that coach’s motivation to join basketball,” says Johnson.
I asked her to describe the feeling of playing basketball. Johnson began playing basketball at Crownpoint High School before transferring to Navajo Prep, a college preparatory school.
Johnson saw both the ins and outs of basketball at these two schools because one is a public school, while the other is an inclusive school to which you must gain admission. At Crownpoint, she saw students whose parents were dealing with alcoholism, or their parents weren’t present in their lives.
“But I guess just seeing, like, seeing basketball through their view, it’s like, for one moment, somebody’s proud of them,” says Johnson.
This is often the grim reality for athletes who find the sport their source of light.
“For one moment, they can wear their little town of Crownpoint across their chest with pride, you know?” says Johnson. She continues describing the feeling of playing basketball for your community as empowering.
She sums it up as basketball on the rez saves people.
“…you’re going to have some tough times within your journey…you’re going to have to overcome yourself, and just making sure that you’re [doing] something that you want to do too,” says Whitehair on what she would tell a younger Native kid who looks up to her.
Photo Source: Rylie WhiteHair
Rylie Whitehair and her team recently won the 2025 4A New Mexico State Championship. Whitehair plays center and is a current senior at Gallup High School in Gallup, New Mexico.
After Whitehair graduates in May, she is committed to playing for the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. But she didn’t get to this point in her career alone. Whitehair speaks passionately about the community she played for, her father, and the team that helped her reach this level of success.
Gallup is a town bordered by the Navajo reservation. Many people come in flocks to watch this team play their hearts out. Gallup ended their season as number one in Class 4A, with a winning streak of 30-2.
“Playing basketball on the rez is actually really a gift,” says Whitehair about being able to experience the outpouring support from her community. “But for me, I mean, really playing on the res has really been a lot, and it’s very exciting, because there’s games where it’s really, really packed and they’re cheering so loud, everyone’s yelling their lungs out”
Competing at this high caliber, Whitehair puts an emphasis on being mentally prepared for the game. She describes basketball as a mental game and having a strong mind helps her lock into each game.
“I would say mentality,” says Whitehair after asking her to describe basketball in one word. “Yeah, it does consider physicality and everything. But really, I think it’s all mental.”
Team chemistry helps teams win games and builds unbreakable bonds. Gallup High’s team comprises girls from different backgrounds and grades, but this doesn’t matter on the court.
“But when it comes to the court, we’re all one family, I would say, we’re just all one big, happy family who just likes to play basketball and to just be ourselves on the court,” says Whitehair. She continues talking about how there would be no wins on the court without this team chemistry.
Whitehair embraces her community, always crediting their support at away games and the large fanbase that travels to see these Native teams play. She wants people to know that Natives will always make their presence known at any basketball game that involves a Native team.
“They love to cheer, and they love to yell, and they [are] full of excitement, and it’s alot of positivity around and, you know, our games are really packed. I mean, if you go to another non-native school, their games aren’t really as packed as our native teams are,” says Whitehair.
“My advice to them is to keep playing no matter what, to go for what, your want your goals, and to stay in shape. Basically, to be in the gym every day,” says Sheka on advice to younger girls who want to be better at basketball.
Photo Courtesy: WynterRose Sheka
WynterRose Sheka is a senior point guard at Tohatchi High School in Tohatchi, New Mexico. Sheka is looking to play at the next level, but for now, she reflects on how basketball has always been present in her life and the role it plays in it.
Senior year is a whirlwind, especially as an athlete. Stepping onto the court, Sheka describes it as forgetting the outside world, and it’s a different feeling.
“I don’t have to worry about nothing else, just the basketball, and the crowd goes silent,” says Sheka.
Like Whitehair, Sheka says the game drives her mentality, specifically a competitive one. This mentality pushes her to do better and ensure the best possible outcome during a match.
“Like I have that mentality in my head of always trying to win and everything is a competition to me, but I try to make it as fun as possible,” says Sheka. “Not always like winning, winning, winning because I need to learn how to lose sometimes. So I don’t really take it to heart, and I drive to compete and to get better.”
Tohatchi is a small community on the rez, but it’s known to have the most loyal and loudest fans. However, this can also be a double-edged sword, as Sheka feels like this only happens toward the end of the season.
“In the past, we’ve been having large fan bases because we’ve been winning, but this season we’re kind of on and off the regular season, when it came towards the end, they only come for the winning games,” says Sheka about how fans are only following the winning teams resulting in showing their true colors.
Sheka has a deep love for the game and recognizes what playing style will help her improve her style and effectiveness on the court. While the term ‘rez ball’ is often used to describe the playing style on the reservation, along with players, Sheka tries to keep her distance from this style.
‘Rez ball” is a style that involves speed by dribbling the ball quickly up and down the court without any set-up of play. It mostly consists of explosions of play. This can hurt a team more than help them.
“ I played off the rez my whole life and my mom didn’t want me to play in the local tournaments,” says Sheka about her mom wanting what’s best for her. “That’s why she put me in AAU to experience new teammates that are non native, coaches, and the style they play.”
Sheka seems to be taking steps to be a unique player who wants to create her own style of playing, stepping outside the box that players are put in when they are from the rez.