How Michigan’s veterans pass down ‘Michigan culture’

For the No. 5 Michigan women’s basketball team, being a leader extends beyond the game. And for junior guard Olivia Olson, this sentiment rings true whether she’s on the court with a basketball or on the water with a fishing rod.

As the Wolverines gear up for the season, Olson and junior guard Syla Swords are taking on greater responsibilities, both on and off the court. Whether that’s helping the freshmen adjust to college-level drills or holding each other accountable at practice, Michigan’s veterans are using the preseason to set the tone, raise the intensity and build the type of chemistry that will define the Wolverines’ season.

But practice is only half the story. For Olson, some of that chemistry is built on the water.

“I love fishing,” Olson said Tuesday at Michigan Media Day. “I went a lot growing up. My dad took my brother and me, and then a couple of people on our team liked it last year too, so we started fishing a lot. And now about half the team likes to fish. We do it locally and just go to a pond or river.”

When Olson isn’t on the court — which isn’t often — fishing gives her the space to unwind and take her mind off the game. What started as a family tradition has now become a team bonding activity for the Wolverines. Despite their busy offseasons, Olson and her teammates frequently found themselves fishing, talking and simply hanging out in a low-pressure environment.

Sometimes small moments like this are all it takes to build a team culture that lasts.

“We’ve had great leaders before us when we came in as freshmen,” Olson said. “Now we’ve all been able to give back to the freshmen and sophomores that are here, giving them rides and going out to eat with them. That’s just the Michigan culture.”

From driving her teammates home from practice to organizing team fishing trips, Olson embodies that same Michigan culture she inherited when she was a freshman. And with fresh faces joining this Wolverines squad, instilling this culture in the younger generation could be the difference-maker in a season brimming with potential.

Freshmen forward Fope Ayo and guard Devin Cosgriff add an undeniable physical presence to Michigan’s wealth of experience, but they’ll undoubtedly need time to adjust to the overwhelming pace of college basketball. With Olson and Swords leading the charge, they can help bridge this gap for the newcomers, cultivating an identity that meshes veteran experience with Ayo and Cosgriff’s untapped talent.

“I remember working all those years with (former Michigan men’s basketball coach John Beilein), and he would always say, ‘The best thing about freshmen is they become sophomores,’ ” Wolverines coach Kim Barnes Arico said. “It’s just experience and there’s no substitute for experience. So they have to get their feet wet, and we have to bring them along.”

Michigan’s exhibition game against Rochester Christian Thursday will give the Wolverines a chance to showcase the chemistry they’ve built in the preseason. And for the newcomers, it’s a chance to get their feet wet on the court, not just on the water.