It will be 50 years since Title IX was passed into law. Since the establishment of Title IX in 1972, the increase of women participating in sports continues to break barriers, shatter records, and make history. For Lyric Swann, her love and passion for basketball is the epitome of why women belong in sports. Lyric began playing sports at the age of 3 when she first started in soccer. Swann described soccer as her first love as it was the first sport that she played. By the time she was 8, she soon found herself being around basketball and end up loving the game, the culture, and the community within the basketball world. 

As high school arrived, Swann was a star in her own right in both soccer and basketball at Long Ranch High School. In her junior year, Lyric led Howard County in scoring, which included her 1,000th point in junior year, and led Long Ranch to Maryland State Finals. Her junior campaign would lead Swann to be named Howard County Player of the Year and selected both the Maryland All-State Team and All-USA Today Maryland Team. In senior year, Lyric’s game excelled as she became the only player in Long Ranch history (male or female) for the most points scored in a career with 1,571 as she once again led  Howard County in scoring for the second straight season. Swann’s senior year was a success as she collected Howard County Player of the Year for a second consecutive year, earned both Washington Post Honors and Baltimore Sun All-Met Team Honors, and was nominated for McDonald’s All-American. Swann’s impact on the court at Long Ranch would soon be recognized as she would have her jersey retired into the rafters before graduation. 

Lyric began her collegiate career at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) in 2019. As a freshman, Lyric started in all 28 games for UMBC as she was third on the team in points per game (8.4 ppg), second on the team in steals with 34 steals, third in assists with 38 assists, and was named America East Rookie of the Week twice. The next season at UMBC, Swann started 6 out of the 8 games before the 2020-21 season would be cut short due to the pandemic of COVID-19. Throughout her two seasons at UMBC, Lyric tallied 1,152 minutes, 272 points, 80 rebounds, 52 assists, 43 steals, and 1 block. After two years at UMBC, Lyric transferred to Community College of Baltimore County (CCBC) Essex as a redshirt sophomore. During her time at CCBC Essex, Swann became a major factor for the Knights as she helped lead the Knights to capture both the Maryland Junior College (JUCO) title and the Mid-Atlantic District Title and a strong finish in the NJCAA Tournament by placing third. Her impact on the court would land Swann on All-Tournament Team, First Team All-Region, and NJCAA Division II Women’s Basketball All-American First Team. Throughout her career at CCBC Essex, Lyric totaled 1,047 minutes, 699 points, 229 assists, 162 rebounds, and 5 blocks. After the 2021-22 season with the Knights concluded, Lyric announced her commitment to the University of North Florida. 

Since high school, student-athletes had to be accustomed to balancing books and sports to prepare for college. Lyric expresses how juggling academics and athletics can be challenging. “Balancing a sport and academics can be a challenge,” Swann states. “ In high school, I got a 4.5 GPA and in college, I’ve gotten 4.0’s due to two key factors: schedules and time management.” Lyric details how she writes down every assignment and every task that she has to complete to make sure everything is done on time. Currently, Swann’s majors of study are graphic design and psychology. With both majors of studies, Swann sees that both degrees could be utilized in the sports world from understanding the mental aspect of athletes through the lens of psychology to creating artwork that showcases the influence of basketball from the visual aspect. “Graphic design is all around basketball, from the jerseys to the graphics, to the website layout. Graphic design affects the visual aspect of basketball, while psychology affects the mental aspect. Understanding how the brain and people work will help comprehension of how basketball and people work,” states Lyric. “I hold myself to a high standard on and off the court to ensure I am successful.” 

Lyric is no stranger to basketball as her role model is her mother, Karyn Swann is a legend for UMBC Women’s basketball. While at UMBC, Karyn earned East Coast Conference Defensive Player of the Year honors in the 1990-91 season and ranks 13th in all-time career steals. Not only does Lyric credit her mom as her role model on the court; but she also views her mother as an inspiration off the court. Lyric describes how close she and her mother are both on and the court. “We have an extremely close relationship,” states Swann. “She's full of happiness and her smile and presence can light up a room. Raising two daughters as a single mom while providing us a wonderful childhood is a true testament to her being the hardest working woman I know.”  Lyric praises how her mother is her number one supporter and pushes her to be the best player on the court. “On the court, my mom never backs down to any challenges. She still joins in on basketball runs and trains me. My mom is my number one supporter. She has only missed being in attendance at 3 games in my entire career. Knowing she has my back inspires me to be the best version of myself,” Swann quotes. 

A girl with a dream becomes a woman with a vision. Lyric sees herself playing ball at a professional level. “I love the game way too much to be separated from it,” Lyric states. “There are so many amazing people and opportunities surrounding basketball. I also love the opportunities to play professionally and I'm blessed to have an amazing support system around me.” Swann details that she plans on continuing to be part of the sport through different avenues such as social media content and coaching as a way to inspire younger female athletes. “I like creating social media content relating to basketball because I love inspiring others- especially younger female athletes. I can see myself getting into coaching later on because as a point guard, I've been an extension of the coach on the floor and have a lot of knowledge about the game.” When it comes to inspiring the next generation, Lyric advises that it is important to have confidence in yourself and put in the work. “Have confidence in yourself and your game. You only have one life to live, so why hold yourself back from being happy and chasing your dreams?,” Lyric states.  “Secondly, you have to put in the work. Once you believe in yourself and your vision, you have to make it happen. Staying positive and consistent will help you be successful in reaching your goals.” 

Women’s basketball continues to be on the rise as female athletes such as Candace Parker, Natasha Cloud, and Lyric Swann herself inspire the next generation to pursue their dreams and go for the gold! From payment equality to social justice, so many female athletes continue to use the platform to speak out about what’s important both on and off the court. “There have been so many voices advocating for equal treatment and respect for women's basketball to be on the same level as the men's,” Lyric says. In other words, it’s bigger than sports. 

Lyric exemplifies what it means to be more than an athlete. Not only is she talented on the court; but, off the court, she is a multi-talented artist that has expressed her gifts through the arts and music. Whether it’s painting or playing the violin, Lyric demonstrates that you can be gifted outside of sports, too. Lyric explains why her story stands out: “It is not the typical linear story. I went to D1 (Division I), JUCO (Junior College), and back D1 (Division I). In high school, I had a great career. My number is the only number to be retired in the history of my school, I hold the scoring record for both boys and girls, I was back-to-back POY, and was a McDonald's All-American nominee to name a few. The environment at my first college was not the best and it was a very toxic situation. After spending my freshman year and my COVID year there, I entered the transfer portal. I wasn't getting the looks that I wanted, so I went to JUCO to open up my recruitment more. I had a great career there and will forever cherish the memories and amazing season with my coaches and teammates. The University of North Florida won my heart over and I am so excited to be attending there for my last two years of eligibility!” 

Lyric Swann was announced as an official athlete for the Beautiful Ballers team. Swann was excited to join Beautiful Ballers as she saw how supportive the team was along with aiming to be a positive impact on the world. "Being a Beautiful Baller means being the best you that you can be,” Swann explains. "For me, it makes me strive to be amazing on and off the court and to inspire as many people as I can." 

For more information on Lyric, be sure to follow her on Instagram: curlylyric22