Leaders are essential in order for a sports team to succeed. When most people think of a leader in sports, they think of the person in front who is the most vocal.
The most important quality for leaders to possess is leading by example. Senior guard Josh Olsen is the quiet, reserved type who does all his talking on the court.
“I’m not the kind of guy that likes to get in your face and shout a lot,” Olsen said. “But I do like to show the other players what coach is expecting in his players both on and off the court.”
Olsen has been playing sports ever since he was a child but seemed to excel as a basketball player.
“I grew up just loving all sports but basketball has always been a part of me,” Olsen stated. “When I was younger people would ask me what kind of person I was and I would say a basketball player.”
A basketball player he certainly is and he is a huge part of the success of the Wolverines. In his final season as a Wolverine, he is second on the team in scoring with 11 points a game and leads the team with 3.5 assists a game.
Olsen started his college basketball career at the University of Utah in the 2003-04 season where he played in all 33 games and averaged 13.9 minutes a game.
He then served his LDS mission in Tampa, Florida and when he returned, he found that some things had changed at the U of U and that brought him to Utah Valley.
Wednesday March 4 marked his final game as a member of the Utah Valley Wolverines and he has enjoyed every minute of it.
“There are so many positives about UVU basketball,” Olsen said. “I loved it here, this will be one of the best things I will ever do in my life and I will always cherish it.”
For life after UVU, Olsen is planning to attend graduate school and if the opportunity arises to play more basketball he would certainly take it.
Even though the front page never featured his oversized picture and there are not posters all over campus with his face on them, Olsen does not need it.
In terms of UVU basketball, Olsen, the silent leader, needs no praise; no ceremony remembering his career, all Olsen needs and wants is the ball to make things happen.
