The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Moore than a basketball player
06.20.2023 | Women's Basketball
Aaliyah Moore is making an impact off the court.
By Edly Termilien
As the Longhorns are back on campus for summer practice, junior forward Aaliyah Moore is taking her knee injury day by day.
On December 11th, Texas played Alabama State and Moore tore her left ACL and missed the remainder of the season. Moore's injuries were twisted ankles throughout her career, nothing massive like an ACL.
"It was a pain I never felt before," Moore said. "The minute I got up, and they helped me up, and I went back to the locker room, I just started crying because the first thought in my head is that my season is over."
A month later, she had surgery, and since then, Moore has been working on her comeback. Moore had to learn to walk correctly again and needed help using the bathroom. The biggest challenge for Moore was learning to lift her leg.
The first few days in rehab were emotional for Moore, and she decided to set mini goals for herself, such as getting up in the morning.
"You're gonna have days you don't want to get up and do it," Moore said.
As she progressed in rehab, Moore kept her promise in her statement back in December to be the best teammate she could be from the sidelines. Moore made sure to bring energy on good days and bad days. Moore said her teammates kept her in the right headspace during rehab.
"At the end of the day, this is my team, these are my girls, these are my best friends; I'm going to have these relationships forever," Moore said. "What they do is still a reflection of me, so I want them to go out there and win."
Moore's loyalty to her coaches and teammates is deep. She wouldn't change it for the world. She was mic'd up for one of the games, and Longhorn fans saw Aaliyah Moore on the sidelines. The term "baby food" became a slogan for Moore.
"People say baby food is like basically you just dominate someone or someone bigger versus someone smaller, and you score on them, and you kinda bodied them, it's like saying you're a baby," Moore said.
When Moore returns, she plans to use "baby food" on the court, especially when she makes her first bucket.
Moore has taken small steps by learning about herself this past season, not only as an athlete but as a black person. She always craved to find more black people on campus outside of athletics.
Recently, Moore went to the Black student-athlete summit in Los Angeles, California. With the help of her advisor, Moore met with UT Austin professor Leonard Moore, the founder and executive director of the Black Student-Athlete Summit. Moore spent four days at the conference learning about maximizing their talents on the court and off the court.
"It's just a big deal for me because I'm more than an athlete," Moore said. There is way more to me than just playing basketball."
She took many advice and teaching moments from the summit. The lesson that sticks out to her the most is learning how to communicate with your white coach as a black athlete.
Social justice is very important to Moore, which led her to the summit in the first place and meeting new black people in the sports world. She expressed the many career and networking opportunities at the summit. Moore is interested in communication and attended many seminars that catered to broadcasting journalism and digital production.
"It was amazing to hear people that have done what I want to do and hear their stories on how they got there," Moore said.
Moore is excited to return to the summit next year and years to come. As expected, she plans to bring her teammates next time.
