LYNNFIELD — Basketball has taken former Lynnfield High girls basketball standout and Dartmouth College rising sophomore, Cate MacDonald, many places.
Her latest adventure took her all the way to China, representing the Big Green’s women’s basketball team at the 2024 USA-China Basketball Team Exchange Aug. 5-12 at Tsinghua University in Beijing.
MacDonald was one of six women and eight men who made the long trek. In addition to Dartmouth, players from Harvard, Columbia, University of Pennsylvania, MIT, and Williams enjoyed an action-packed week full of sightseeing, socializing with their Chinese counterparts, and lots of basketball.
MacDonald said the highlight of the trip was “Obviously, playing basketball and getting to know the Chinese players.” That said, seeing the Great Wall and Summer Palace were “once-in-a-lifetime opportunities.”
“I consider myself to be in pretty good shape, but climbing the wall to get to the top was very hard as it was very humid,” she said. “It took us an hour just to get there. It was such a cool experience. It was incredible.”
MacDonald said the opportunity to participate came through a teammate’s connection to Chris Sparks, senior player development director for the Boston Celtics.
“A group of people, including Chris, reached out to a bunch of students in February and we said we were interested,” MacDonald said. “It was complicated. We had to get VISAs and there were so many other things involved in the process. I think back and think it’s kind of crazy that we made it to August and all of a sudden, we were in New York on the plane for a 16-hour flight. It really was such a whirlwind, especially when our flight from Boston to JFK was canceled and we had to drive. When we got to Beijing, it was like ‘Wow’ to know we were in a completely different time zone in a new place halfway across the world.”
The players celebrated their cultural-exchange week with a charity game and farewell party. As a show of unity, Chinese and American players played alongside each other.
“We all split up, so it was so much fun, but it was hard to get over the language barrier,” MacDonald said. “We could communicate through the basic concepts of the game, but we needed a lot of hand motions and literally pushing each other to where they needed to go on defense. It was a mutual learning opportunity for all of us.”
The farewell party featured plenty of authentic, traditional Chinese dishes as well as speeches, singing, and exchanges of both gifts and cell phone numbers.
“To be honest, some of the food, like cow liver and pigs’ feet, were definitely out of my comfort zone, but I loved it. It really summed up the trip,” MacDonald said. “We just had so much fun singing together, knowing that we made new friends and learned so much about each other’s cultures. I think we all plan to stay in touch as you never know what connections you may make later in life.”
“If you had told me last summer I’d be doing this, I would have said you were crazy. I can honestly say that basketball has taken me to places I never would have seen, had I not played the game.”
According to an Aug. 2 Harvard Athletics press release, the goal of the exchange program was to enhance cultural exchanges between China and the U.S., while furthering “basketball competitive levels, and cultivate sportsmanship and international perspectives among the younger generation.”
“Through this platform, the organizations hope to build a future-oriented network of young partners, promote communication, build friendship within the youth communities of China and the U.S., and lay a solid foundation for future cooperation,” the statement said.
The exchange program is the product of a Nov. 2023 meeting in San Francisco between U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping. A Nov. 15 press release statement issued by The White House stated that both presidents acknowledged the importance of expanding cultural exchanges between both the United States and China in several key areas, including education, student, youth, sports, and business.
At Lynnfield High, MacDonald became only the second player in the history of the girls basketball program to earn Cape Ann All-League All-Star honors as a freshman. She transferred to New Hampton School junior year and graduated in 2023, but not before earning several awards in recognition of her basketball accomplishments. She was named to the NEPSAC All-Star team as a senior and to the Lakes Region All-Star team as a junior. She also helped lead the Huskies’ golf team to a Lakes Regional championship as a senior.
At Dartmouth, she was one of only four players to appear in every one of the Big Green’s 26 games, averaging 15.3 minutes, 4.2 points, and 3.1 rebounds per game. She registered a double-double in a Jan. 27 loss to Brown, netting 11 points to go along with 10 rebounds. She also had a big game in Dartmouth’s Nov. 12 home-opener against Siena with 10 rebounds and seven points.
Now that she’s back in her hometown, MacDonald will finish out the summer working as a lead coach for Hardwood Hustle at its summer youth basketball camps. She’ll also be preparing for her upcoming season at Dartmouth.
She returns to the Hanover campus on Sept. 16, the first day of classes. Basketball practice begins a couple of weeks later.
MacDonald said making the leap from high school to college was “an adjustment.”
“New Hampton prepared me pretty well, but the college level is just so much faster and stronger. I learned a lot and spent more time in the spring and summer getting into the gym on my own to do more lifting and getting more shots up. Freshman year, I was more of a hustle player, getting rebounds and going to the floor, which I know I’ll still do, but I hope to add more scoring opportunities to my game.”
