Tiger Talks: Annie Tarakchian '16

PRINCETON, N.J. – "In the fall of 2012, I packed my bags and started a new life on the East Coast as I joined the Princeton's Women's Basketball family. My life was forever changed."

Tiger Talks features discussions from former Tigers about their experience at Princeton. This week features Annie Tarakchian '16.

Tarakchian currently plays for BCF Elfic Fribourg Basket, a professional team based in Switzerland. The wing player is one of five players under head coach Courtney Banghart to sign a professional contract, the others being Blake Dietrick '15, Devona Allgood '12, Addie Micir '11 and Niveen Rasheed '13.

Here's Annie's story…

Everything about Princeton seemed impossible – getting in, being so far from home, the academics, the prestige – everything. But a recruiting letter turned into a phone call, which turned into an official visit and an early action application, and then the golden ticket. In the fall of 2012, I packed my bags and started a new life on the East Coast as I joined the Princeton Women's Basketball family. My life was forever changed.

The head of the family is Coach Banghart. She established the atmosphere of hard work, discipline and love amongst the team that made us better as individuals and as a unit. Having a leader that brought enthusiasm, edge, and 1,000 percent to every single day compelled the rest of us to do the same. Anything less seemed unfair. Coach Flores and the rest of the coaching staff are the backbone of the system, the parental squad if you will. They were patient with us, supportive through the ups and downs, and always knew what to say and when to say it. The balance of love and discipline made us stronger on and off the court.

The women that graduated before us are the crazy aunts of the family. They bring the spirit and spark to all reunions and are undoubtedly and unfailingly the loudest cheers in the crowd. Our four years may not have overlapped, but no one would know. They come back because this is family. They founded the team's traditions and the "work hard, play hard" mentality. They advised us on the rights to aim for, the wrongs to avoid, and paved the way for us to succeed.

My teammates, young and old, became my sisters immediately. We learned together, we stole each other's clothes, we teased one another, we protected each other, we struggled through the hard times together and we triumphed. We took more pride in each other's successes than our own, as that is just the Tiger way. We became champions together.

Nothing good ever comes easy and Princeton demanded new levels of toughness. Basketball is what brought our Tiger family together and I will forever be grateful to the game. The lessons of trust, grit, patience, resilience and selflessness learned on the court are hard to attain in the classroom or in the workplace.

The early morning workouts, late-night bus trips, gut-wrenching run tests, Christmas Day Red Eyes, missed school breaks, endless practices, along with everything in between seemed crazy to a lot of my friends and relatives, but to me it was time well-spent.

It was 30-0, March Madness, the championships, the bus ride games, the White House, overseas trips, the network that I now call family, a Princeton degree and this amazingly talented, beautiful, and compassionate Tiger family that has changed my life for forever. The journey may have lasted only four years, but everything that came with it will last a lifetime. With being a member of Princeton Women's Basketball, I am a part of something so much greater than myself. It doesn't get any better than that.

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