A career in medicine is a serious endeavor. Years of college and medical school before residency and then, after a decade of hard work, you reach your goal.
Years of perseverance and dedication are also the pathway to becoming a Division I basketball student-athlete. A road lined with hours of practice a week, games while still carving out time for hours of classes and homework.
Arizona senior guard
Lindsey Malecha is a tale of these two paths.
"Once I'm done at the University of Arizona I'd really like to go to medical school and study to become a surgeon," Malecha said. "My love for medicine developed over the years. I never had one particular thing that drove me to medicine. I have always found it very interesting especially once I started taking more directed courses such as physiology. The body fascinates me and the way it works together."
Malecha joined the Arizona women's basketball team as a junior walk-on prior to the 2017-18 season after earning a spot during a tryout. She appeared in 23 of Arizona's 30 games and scored 31 points, including a career-high five points against New Mexico State on Dec. 14.
Now as one of three seniors on the team, Malecha has taken a role of a leader; not necessarily by choice, but just by who she is. It's a new role for her after being awarded a scholarship in July by the coaching staff.
"I was so unsuspecting of it all and I never expected anything to come of it," Malecha said. "When I opened the balloon and I started reading that little slip, I started reading at the beginning of the sentence and then I read ahead and I saw it, and I couldn't even finish the sentence. I was completely surprised and just overwhelmed with emotion and gratitude. The fact that my teammates were so surprised and excited for me also just made it all the more special to me because they are my family and it was a really cool experience."
"She deserved it," Barnes continued. "It wasn't just about how she played, it was also about what she brought to the team and how I wanted her to be a part of this. She brings all the things that we want culturally and brings them on off the court. She's great in the locker room, so I knew there was no one that deserved it more than her."
THE FUTURE SURGEON
Not only is Malecha working towards Medical School while being a Division I student-athlete, she is thriving in the classroom sporting a 4.0 GPA. Not only is she acing all her classes, she is taking more time out of her day to shadow surgeon Dr. Christina Boulton.
"I've been shadowing an orthopedic surgeon here in Tucson over the summer and she's really awesome," Malecha said. "She's a great role model, so I really connected with her and she'd be somebody that I look up to and would like to model myself after."
Her desire to become a surgeon has not gone unnoticed. University of Arizona President Dr. Robert Robbins, a former surgeon himself, spent some time with Malecha discussing her future as well as the process she will go through in the next few years.
"It was a great experience meeting Dr. Robbins," Malecha said. "He is very personable and he truly cares about every student at the University of Arizona. When I met with him, he was generally interested in my path through college and what I want to do with my future. He wants to help and support me in any way he can to help me reach my goals. I was very honored that he took time out of his day to meet with me and it speaks volumes about the type of person he is."
Malecha is not set on what type of surgeon she wants to be, but she does know that performing surgeries is her calling in life.
"One of the coolest things is the cancer research that I do. It is very interesting to me," Malecha said. "When I'm out in the community doing community service with the team and I mention that I do cancer research, I'll have breast cancer patients and survivors tell me their story, and it just really humanizes what I do and it makes it feel all the better.
"I'm not sure if I want to go into Oncology, but really once you get to medical school you get a look at all the fields. I'm trying not to be too narrow-minded because everybody says you find your passion once you're there. Cancer is something that I find very intriguing and I find very impactful in society today."
Although that is still years away, Malecha believes that this time of her life will adequately prepare her for the future and the hours and years of hard work.
"After balancing everything I have in undergrad, I think medical school shouldn't be harder time management wise," Malecha said. "The longevity of it is definitely hard because of years of extra school, but what keeps me going is the end result. I know that there's nothing I want to do besides be a surgeon and that'll help keep me through it."
PROUD TO BE A WILDCAT
Now the Minnesota native continues her senior year at Arizona with graduation in mind as well as well as her new family. If you ask her, she's living her best life pursuing her dream to become a surgeon while playing on a Division I college basketball team with her new sisters.
"I've really enjoyed being part of a team," Malecha said. "Basketball is a team sport and you always create those connections with your teammates. After my first two years of college not having that, I felt like I was missing something. I was missing that family aspect honestly and these girls and coaches are like my family."
Malecha will be playing her second and final season for coach Barnes this year, as program continues to build something special in Tucson.
"I think her best qualities are her attitude, determination and her work ethic," said Barnes. "On the court she wants to do her best and she wants to learn. She wants to ask questions and figure things out, and that correlates to how she is in school."
"She is just a special person and I'm sad that I don't get to coach longer."
