Instead of preparing for her junior season at St. John’s high school, Azzi Fudd was secluded to a hotel room in Indianapolis, Indiana, 600 miles from her hometown of Fairfax, Virginia.
Alongside her sat her best friend and Oregon women’s basketball guard Sydney Parrish.
Fudd — now a Connecticut Huskies freshman guard — tore her ACL in April in a USA Basketball Under-18 3×3-game. She got surgery in a nearby Indianapolis hospital and stayed the following week in the Embassy Suites to recover. Parrish, who lived in Indianapolis, would drive to the hotel to spend time with Fudd every day.
“I was really lucky to be that person who was there for her during that tough time,” Parrish said “Being there created a closer friendship between us knowing everything she had gone through during those times. She’s a true warrior and has persevered through a lot.”
It was three years after the two had met at a Blue Star 30 camp in Chicago. And three years later, although Fudd remains sidelined with a lingering ankle injury, their teams will meet when the UConn Huskies take on Parrish and the Oregon women’s basketball team on Monday, Jan. 17.
Parrish is set on beating the Huskies, but during that week in the hotel, basketball was far from the first thing on the mind of her and Fudd. Fudd was trapped between the four walls of her hotel room. Parrish provided her with an escape.
Fudd and Parrish’s friendship blossomed on the basketball court when they were selected to play for Blue Star 30 — a basketball camp formed by coach Mike Flynn that featured the top women’s basketball prospects.
As they’ve gone from teammates to opponents at two of the nation’s marquee programs their relationship has grown to transcend the basketball court. It’s one that Parrish’s mom Aimee hopes her daughter will keep for the rest of her life.
“I always told Sydney to support everyone around her, ‘be the cheerleader, not the downer,’” Aimee said. “At the end of the day [Azzi] and [Sydney] are just kids who are best friends, who happen to be really good at basketball.”
Not only did Parrish meet Fudd playing at Blue Star 30, but she developed friendships with her current teammates Maddie Scherr and Kylee Watson, as well as UConn players Paige Bueckers, Amari DeBerry and Caroline Ducharme. Monday’s tilt presents a substantial reunion.
The 2020 class of women’s basketball players have grown together and developed a sisterhood. Although they play on opposite sides of the country, they comment on each other’s Instagram highlights and keep in touch with one another through frequent facetime calls.
“Basketball friendships are like an unspoken bond,” Oregon forward Kylee Watson said. “We may not talk for a few months, but if we see each other on social media we’re gonna be so supportive because that’s our sister that we grew to love even if we’re doing our own thing.”
The players’ comradery grew at the Blue Star 30 camps where coach Flynn preached the importance of friendships, healthy competition and joining forces to combat the gender inequities entrenched in women’s basketball.
When the girls first arrived at Flynn’s camp, he provided them with a backpack full of merchandise including basketball shoes, socks, shirts, jerseys and other accessories.
“He would always repeat, ‘I want you to know how it feels to be a boy,’” Fudd’s mom Katie said. “[Mike] opened their eyes to gender inequities. They need to demand more for themselves and be voices for advocating for themselves,”
Blue Star 30 served as a platform for young women’s basketball players to learn about how collegiate basketball works on and off the court. It gave them a place to showcase their talents and grow together, rather than compete against one another as they did in the AAU circuit.
“Everybody knew who each other was so it made for competitive and supportive relationships,” Flynn said. “Even when they finish basketball they’ll have the Blue Star 30 sisterhood. They’ll have the comradery to appreciate one another and be friends beyond basketball.”
The camps helped expose the young women and their skill sets to top-notch Division-I schools. Their games flourished alongside one another, and their friendships grew.
Like many of her teammates, Parrish received college offers from a young age. Her first came from Indiana University while playing for her dad’s Under-14 AAU team. However, her parents decided to wait until she was a freshman in high school to present her with the offers.
Both Shawn and Aimee felt that their daughter needed to keep her focus on improving her game. Oregon came into the picture late, but with support from her good friend Fudd, Parrish remained confident that it was the right choice.
Parrish chose Oregon. Fudd chose UConn.
Their sisterhood isn’t on the line this Monday when the two premier women’s basketball programs go head-to-head. One team will emerge victoriously and with it, earn a resume-building win, but the friendship outlasts the wins and the losses.
