EUGENE — Greg Bell smiled and congratulated his daughter on a race well-ran. Then 11 years old, young Sofia stood on the track and stared at him with stoic confusion.
“Dad, why are you and everyone yelling at me while I’m running?” she asked.
Greg laughed. “Sweetie, we’re just trying to help you run faster.”
Sofia looked around, and with a stone-cold expression, asked: “What do you think I’m trying to do?”
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Sofia went to her first Oregon women’s basketball game when she was five, the last game at McArthur Court. She grew up in Portland watching Sabrina Ionescu put the Ducks and women’s college basketball on the map. And all around Oregon, the prep hoops scene burst at the seams with Division I talent.
Sofia made a name for herself on the AAU circuit, winning a national championship in the Nike EYBL. She was later named a McDonald’s All-American in 2023, starring for Jesuit High School, and is now in her sophomore year playing for Kelly Graves at Oregon. Greg and wife Claire were on the sidelines each step of the way, and still are — mostly subdued but consistently encouraging.
“I did not want to play basketball when I was little,” Sofia said with a laugh. “I was really into tennis and track. Eventually, at the Northeast Community Center in Portland, I had a coach named Coach Earl who encouraged me to come and work out there. I started playing when I was five or six.”
Greg — a former basketball player himself at UO, now a motivational speaker and author — remembers watching as coach Earl Cheney led an initially apprehensive Sofia into the gym at the Northeast Community Center in Portland. He observed through the window as his daughter went through various drills. An hour or two later, she told her dad she didn’t want to leave.
Eventually, playing in a youth basketball league with mostly boys, Greg said a referee told young Sofia to stop scoring so much and give the other kids a chance. That lit a fire under her.
“She’s a gritty kid, so she will show up even when it’s hard,” Greg said. “That’s what I think I admire most about her, is she’s not a front-runner. When it’s time to go, she is ready. I think that’s a reflection of her mom.”
While consistently motivated and competitive, Sofia’s personality is even-keel. Her father even described her as “wise.” The foundation of her success in sports comes from her own determination, Greg said, but the way he and Claire chose to parent Sofia through athletics may have made a major difference.
“He definitely gave me a lot of guidance and still does,” Sofia said of her dad. “He is pretty consistent with his texts and his little stuff.”
Greg remembers seeing it all the time, especially at high school and AAU games but even at the youth level: overbearing sports parents, screaming at referees and overwhelming their kids with overly critical “advice” from the sidelines or after the game.
Neither he nor Claire wanted to be that parent. It was about positive encouragement, he said, and providing Sofia the space to figure things out on her own.
“Most kids, I think, the worst part of sports is the ride home,” Greg said. “We didn’t want sports to be a negative for her. She’s already going to be self-critical.”
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Sofia’s freshman year at Oregon was cut short after 21 games due to a season-ending foot injury. Through the process, she split her time between Eugene and Portland rehabbing and spending time with family. And while it was new territory for her, she didn’t let it become all-consuming.
“It was the first time I’d actually been injured or had to miss a significant amount of time,” Sofia said. “It was challenging, but definitely a lot of growth. The staff down here is awesome, too.”
It wasn’t Sofia’s first experience with a long layoff, either: the pandemic in 2020 cut her and countless other young athletes off from competitive sports for months. She spent days on end at the park shooting around with her dad.
Those moments were special, Sofia said. And they provided an example of a lesson Greg believes Sofia taught him on that track when she was 11 years old: kids in sports need space to be who they are, and pursue their passions without lurking, overbearing parental interference.
This comes from a former college athlete, who could have just as easily pushed his daughter too hard in the direction of his own dream. But she ended up playing basketball for the same university he did on her own accord, and with a calm confidence.
“So much of it is just having a strong relationship with her,” Greg said. “What’s the relationship going to look like when the ball stops bouncing? If I’m a jerk to her while we’re in the gym, what’s that going to look like in five years? 10 years?
“I shot all the baskets I’m going to shoot. So, you talk about legacy? It’s her legacy. Not mine.”
— Ryan Clarke covers the Oregon Ducks and Big Ten Conference. Listen to the Ducks Confidential podcast or subscribe to the Ducks Roundup newsletter.
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