JESSIEVILLE -- Rosario Cortes, a junior at Jessieville High School, is an exchange student from Spain who also happens to be an all-conference basketball player for the Lady Lions' basketball team.
Cortes plays guard for the Lady Lions and was a key contributor to the team's outstanding 28-6, 11-3 record this season in Class 3A-7 play.
She cites playing basketball with her close-knit team as the highlight of her experience in America.
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"I am so grateful how the team was, like, accepted me," she said. "I feel like I was here forever."
Cortes said there are differences in playing basketball in Spain and the United States.
"A lot of differences," she said. "People play like it is more important here. In Spain, I play to have fun, and here is like to be better and have a future with basketball."
Lady Lions head coach Magen Scrivner noted that in Spain, they play basketball outside. Cortes said playing inside has its perks.
"I think it is better inside because outside, whenever you fall or something, it is worse," she said. "And then here, people can shoot better and stuff."
Away from the court, Cortes said it was a hard transition to American life. She said that during her first month here she was fine, but after a while, she became a little homesick around Christmas. Now, though, she notes, she feels fine again.
Of the many changes, food is one aspect that she misses a lot.
"In Spain, the food is way better," she said. "It is healthy. Like, we eat a lot of seafood, like fish. Since I am here, I did not try fish."
Cortes said when asked what she will miss most when she returns to Spain, that she will miss her friends, host family, and the sports.
Rather than playing basketball when she returns, however, she plans on focusing all of her attention on track, as she is quite the track star.
"I think I am going to go track," she said. "(I compete in) the 100, 200, sprint and the sprint relay. I do not know on (basketball); I need time to study. I was on a team and whenever I came here, they do not have (that) team anymore. I left; another girl left. We probably will not have a team."
Cortes said that sports are not offered through the school systems in Spain, but rather through club ball.
"We play like in club. I have another option, but it is like several minutes away, and then the other option, I do not like the team," she said.
Scrivner said sports are truly extracurricular in Spain and that schools are for education only.
Cortes said she will not return for her senior year of high school at Jessieville, but plans to attend college in Spain.
"I want to study in Spain," she said.
Scrivner said she tried to get her to stay.
Cortes said it felt good knowing that everyone enjoyed her being in the United States, and that "it has made me feel important."
She said she has many memories of playing basketball for Jessieville that she will never forget -- particularly that of learning the team was going to play in the state tournament after defeating Drew Central, 62-48, in the regional tournament.
"Whenever we knew we were going to state... The three last seconds we were ready to jump the bench and go to hug each other. I hugged Ken (Kennedi Scrivner) and we have really cute pictures. We went to the locker room and we play music, we dance and we screamed," she said.