By Daniel Morgan, Editor
Lady Hilltoppers shooting guard Bethany “Beth” Dalton is enjoying her second year at West Liberty with her team. She enjoys the sport, especially with her current teammates, but it took her a while to find her niche in America as she’s jumped across the pond from her hometown of Gosport, England more than once.
“I’ve been all over the place,” Dalton said. “I played competitively until I was 18, for the club teams, and then in the south of England in the Great British National team in their camps. Then, I came to high school for my senior year over here at Bishop Walsh in Cumberland, Maryland.”
“From there, I got into a recruiting agency and I went to South Georgia Tech for a semester,” Dalton said. “Then, I went home for the rest of the year, and then went back to Garrett College in Maryland for two seasons, and then transferred here.”
Now, she calls West Liberty her home. This Grey’s Anatomy-loving student makes great use out of the area as she loves to hike and explore the outdoors. Of course, basketball is the main reason she is here. It has been a priority of Dalton’s for much of her life; she started playing when she was 14.
“After the first day of practice, I came home and I told my mom that I wanted to play basketball in America. She didn’t believe me, she kind of laughed at me.” Now, she’s here having the time of her life.
“Our team is more like a family, rather than a team,” Dalton said. “We have each other’s backs all the time in everything, and it’s a great group of girls to hang out with.”
Aside from basketball, Dalton is also a resident assistant for campus housing. She wanted to find an easy way to meet new people when she started out at West Liberty.
“With me being from England, I only really knew the girls from basketball, so I wanted to meet new people, which it has allowed me to do,” Dalton said. “I have a whole bunch of new friends just from that.”
Dalton aptly chose to major in Sports Management, and she plans to graduate in December with hopes of keeping basketball as a core aspect of her life.
“I’ve been talking to some different places – a recruiting agency that I use – I’m talking to them about a potential job with them when I graduate,” Dalton said. “I’d like to help kids get to college; I think that’d be a cool experience. I mean, they helped me get to college and play where I’m at, and it would be nice to give back and help other kids do the same thing.
“I’m also interested in being a basketball operations analyst for the NBA,” she added. That’d be like a dream job.”
Regardless of her career path, she wants her life to remain primarily in the United States. She has an uncle in Denver, Colo., and she thought the area was beautiful.
“I want to stay here,” Dalton said. “Every time I go home, it’s different. I came over here when I was 18 and started a life here. It’s not really my life over there anymore, it’s just my family. My life is all here.”
Photo credit: Hilltoppersports.com
Karyn' molteni • Feb 11, 2017 at 7:20 am
Beth is my goddaughter- so proud of her you’re amazing Beth x x
William Frank Victor Gayler • Feb 8, 2017 at 2:43 pm
Hey, that’s our Grand-daughter! Wow!!
Will & Heather Gayler, Coleford, Gloucestershire, England.