Alexis Bordas Gives Back to Wheeling YMCA

Derek Redd

Since she was 5 years old, Alexis Bordas has been a fixture at the Wheeling YMCA. She remembers the first time she walked into the gym with a basketball in her hand.

A basketball has been in Bordas' hand for much of the 12 years since, not just at the YMCA, but on the court at Wheeling Park High School, countless travel tournaments across the country, and at the state girls basketball tournament, where she helped the Patriots this past spring to a Class AAAA state championship.

Bordas credits the YMCA with much of her development as a basketball player. She has twice been named the Gatorade West Virginia Girls Basketball Player of the Year. With that award comes $1,000 for her to donate to the nonprofit of her choice and, for the second year, she has given that money to the YMCA.

The decision, she said, was a no-brainer.

"This is where I first started playing organized basketball," Bordas said. "And every day, I come here to lift, to get shots up, to train. They've provided me so much of an opportunity, so they are definitely a huge part of who I am today."

Bordas averaged 23.7 points, 5.7 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 2.5 steals per game during the Patriots' state championship season. She also was named the Class AAAA tournament MVP.

The YMCA has become a sort of headquarters for her during her growth in the sport. Part of that reason, she said, was that the people who worked at the Y have become like family to her.

"It's definitely the people that I'm around," she said of what keeps her coming back. "Everyone's so welcoming and so nice. Just to be around them, it's very nice and friendly. And with all the stuff the Y provides, there are so many different opportunities to get better at whatever I'm trying to work on."

YMCA Executive Director Adam Shinsky said he remembered that, when Bordas started coming to the Y, it was tough for him to field two or three teams in a girls basketball league. Participation has skyrocketed since then, and Shinsky credits Bordas with helping in that growth.

"She's done a free camp here for the last several years to help grow the game," he said. "We're very proud of her and how hard she works. The little girls around here see that."

Bordas, who has also won at least a share of the last two Mary Ostrowski Awards as West Virginia's top girls basketball player, said it has been her pleasure to play a part in the growth of girls basketball locally.

"The Y has done so much for me," she said. "So it's great to be able to do it here and show the other girls how I grew up and hopefully encourage them to come here and keep playing and hopefully keep growing the game of basketball."