Former Shooting Star Goes Pro

Former Shooting Star, Abby Miller, heading to Portugal this fall to play professional basketball.

Abby Miller joined Shooting Star Basketball Association when she was 4 years old, in the Little Dribblers program.

Miller comes from a family of basketballers: her mom, grandmother, and older sister played, so it was a given that she would try it.

She quickly grasped and fell in love with the game, playing 14 years as a Shooting Star.

“What I’ve always loved about basketball is that it’s provided me with a space where I’ve felt completely myself,” says Miller. “As young girls, we’re taught to act and behave a certain way, but in basketball you’re not only allowed, but encouraged to be loud and confident and strong and competitive. There are many ways that girls can learn to embrace those qualities, if they so choose, but for me, the place I connected to that most was on the basketball court.”

Miller has always played with incredible grit and determination on both ends of the court and her passion for basketball was obvious to anyone who watched her play. 

Miller has had an enjoyable and successful basketball journey, from Shooting Star’s Little Dribblers, all the way to professional basketball overseas. 

During her years as a Shooting Star, she also played three years for West Hants Middle School and four years of spring basketball on the Nova Scotia provincial team, even having the honour of being an alternate for the U17 Canada Games team. In her final three years of youth basketball, she also played for Avon View High School.

In 2018, Miller walked onto Mount Allison University’s (Mt. A) Women’s Basketball Team, earning Rookie of the Year in her first year. Every year, from her second to final, she received Most Valuable Player (MVP) from Mt. A, and in her final year with the Mounties, she was honoured with MVP from the Atlantic Collegiate Athletic Association (ACAA).

After four successful years in the ACAA, Miller took the opportunity in 2024 to play her final year in the Atlantic University Sport (AUS) league with University of Prince Edward Island. 

Since 2022, Miller also was a leading player in the Maritime Women’s Basketball Association (MWBA). She played for the Moncton Mystics and the Miramichi Her-icaines. Last spring, Miller helped the Her-icaines win the MWBA Championship.

Miller has recently signed to play professional basketball in Portugal with Associação Académica de Coimbra in the Campeonato Nacional (CN) 2 league.

“I feel really grateful and excited for this opportunity to develop and improve my game,” says Miller. “This is not really something I had ever thought would be an option for me, so now that I’ve been given the opportunity, I am absolutely going to make the most of it. Playing in a European league is going to give me a whole new perspective that will only increase my basketball knowledge.”

With success to date, and ahead of her, Miller never forgets where her love for the game began. 

“Shooting Star was the foundation of my playing career,” explains Miller. “Everything I’ve learned about basketball started there.”

“The biggest thing my time with Shooting Star instilled in me is the sense of community that comes with sports. From something as simple as carpooling with other parents, to meeting some of the best friends in U10 and still being friends with them today. There is something special about finding a group of people to learn values like teamwork and cooperation through the sport you love, and learning that if you have supportive people around you, you can achieve anything.”

Miller encourages anyone looking to get involved with sports, meet new people, learn team work and leadership skills, challenge themselves, or just looking to try something new, to get involved with basketball.

To those already involved, Miller has some advice:

“Play because you love it. If your goal is to continue playing beyond club and beyond high school, etc., it’s going to take a lot of time, hard work and commitment, so you want to make sure that the driving force behind why you’re doing what you’re doing comes from a place of passion.”

Shooting Star Basketball Association sends a huge congratulations and best wishes to Miller on the next stage of her basketball career.