CLARKSBURG, W.Va. — Back in February of 2022, then a junior at Robert C. Byrd, Avery Childers learned a valuable lesson during her team’s home game against Fairmont Senior.
“You never know who is watching,” Childers said. “A new opportunity could come any minute and you wouldn’t even know it.”
That night, the Flying Eagles suffered a 49-31 loss to a Polar Bears’ team that was among the state’s best with a pair of players bound for the Division I level in guard Marley Washenitz and forward Meredith Maier.
Childers scored all but 13 of her team’s points in that contest, and she did so before Mike Leflar, who as the associate head coach at Massachusetts, was on hand to recruit Washenitz.
“That’s why I try to play hard every game no matter who’s watching,” Childers said.
The day after Leflar got his first look at Childers, he got in touch with her to let Childers know what he thought of her game.
“I didn’t even know he was there, but he told me he liked the way I played, and when he reached out, he told me that I was Division I material,” Childers said.
Fifteen months later, Childers has offered a commitment to play basketball at Massachusetts, where Leflar is now the head coach after a promotion last month.
Childers maintained contact with Leflar leading into her senior season, and although it wasn’t always consistent, she heard from him after reaching 1,000 career points in a victory over Preston in February.
“He reached out to me and said he wanted me to come on a visit,” Childers recalled.
110% committed!! pic.twitter.com/eHqvgx6pEY
— Avery Childers (@childers_avery) May 1, 2023
A Class AAA first-team all-state selection as both a junior and senior, Childers did just that last week. On her first trip to Amherst, she was taken aback by what the Minutewomen program had to offer.
“The facilities are beautiful and the campus is beautiful,” Childers said. “I love the way coach Leflar talks. He is positive and wants to be a better team and be a family at the same time. He wants to win, while being a family and pushing his players to their potential. I instantly fell in love with everything.”
Childers, who averaged 17.3 points and 8.6 rebounds for a 20-win Eagles’ team as a senior, is set to join a program fresh off a 27-win season that ended in the second round of the WNIT.
That wasn’t the plan all along for Childers, who put in nearly 16 points to go with eight rebounds on average in her junior campaign.
At the end of her freshman year of high school, while playing travel basketball, Childers dislocated her right shoulder. Also a standout in volleyball who developed into a quality softball player as well, Childers wound up dislocating her shoulder what she estimates was eight more times after that.
The final instance forced her to undergo surgery that cost Childers her sophomore basketball season after she’d played volleyball.
“I didn’t get as many looks as I thought I would get,” Childers said.
She also visited West Virginia State and gave serious consideration to attending 1 of 1 Prep Academy in Charlotte, particularly after taking a trip there.
“I got to visit there and play with them right after basketball season ended,” Childers said. “Got to see the facilities and I was set on it until Massachusetts reached out.”
Now a whirlwind of a recruiting process has concluded for the 5-foot-11 Childers, who is grateful for the opportunity to try her hand at the next level.
“I’ll be staying in the gym, working on everything and getting better in all aspects,” Childers said. “I need to get in better shape, better at ball-handling, driving and shooting. He hasn’t really said where I’ll be playing position wise, but wherever he wants me is wherever I’ll go. That’s not something I’ll argue with because he knows best.”
Childers has aspirations of getting into the medical field after college and will major in biology.
“Being able to go somewhere I can succeed athletically and academically,” Childers said, “is something I’ve always looked for.”