An Air Academy graduate and soon to be CU Buff Kylee Blacksten’s love for basketball started at home

Kylee Blacksten will wear black and gold at CU next year, "I didn't realize I guess how much being close to home really mattered," says Air Academy graduate and soon to be CU Buff Kylee Blacksten.

Home is where her heart is and she didn't want to be too far from her loving family, "We've just always been super close. I don't think my mom has ever missed a game. My dad is at most of them. My sister after she stopped playing has been at every one since," says Blacksten.

Her older sister Katlyn, the one that she shares a laugh with, is goofy with and the one that she shares her fondest memories of basketball with, when they played together at Air Academy high school, "It was the first day of tryouts. She knows me so well she like, you're nervous, I'm like no, no! I'm not nervous. I go in for layup and I throw it over. I throw the ball completely over the backboard and Katlyn walks over to me, yeah you're not nervous at all. I'm like okay maybe a little nervous," says Blacksten.

Her sister is also the one that brings out her competitive spirit whether it's catching snowflakes or playing a game of horse, "I don't like losing. Game of horse we played the other day me and my sister were going at it trying to figure out who was going win. Throwing it off the roof it was crazy," says Blacksten. Whether it's horsing around or riding a horse at home..sports has always been at the center of the Blacksten family's bond, "We've spent some of our best times just playing basketball or going out and shooting. Some of best family memories are doing that. It's always really been a family thing with basketball," says Blacksten.