BIRMINGHAM – Despite the women’s basketball season start date being pushed to November 25, there is much to be excited about in Birmingham as the UAB women’s basketball team welcomes seven newcomers to the roster for the 2020-21 season. Over the next several weeks, UABSports.com will introduce you to the new Blazers and provide unique opportunities to get to know these new faces.
Meet the Blazers begins with a redshirt sophomore transfer from Southern Utah, Claudia Armato.
The Armato File
Number: 13
Position: Guard
Height: 5-5
Hometown: Melbourne, Australia
What is your favorite thing about Melbourne?
CA: “I love the lifestyle. It’s not too fast paced. It’s not overly populated. It’s very chill.”
What is the biggest adjustment you have to make coming from Australia to the U.S.?
CA: “Most things are the same. I am thankful there is no language barrier or anything like that. The biggest difference for me is just the food. I am pretty particular about what I eat and what I put in my body. The time difference only really hits you for the first week but then you adjust to it and by now I know what times I can call my family and talk to them.”
When did you start playing basketball and why?
CA: “I was six or seven when I started playing. My mom really wanted me to get involved with something. I was at that age where you start trying things out and I ended up really liking it, so I stuck with it.”
Do you have a favorite basketball player and if so who?
CA: “I watched Tony Parker a lot growing up but there isn’t necessarily anyone now that I particularly follow.”
What is your favorite basketball memory?
CA: “Getting into nationals, which is a huge tournament where every team from Australia can compete for it. We weren’t expected to qualify for that, and we knocked off the top team. We made history for our club; it was the first time we ever made it.”
Did you play any other sports growing up?
CA: “I did athletics for the longest time and then got into cross country; I did that alongside basketball.”
Why do you wear number 13?
CA: “I normally wear number 10. I grew up wearing that, but I played a couple of seasons of high school wearing 13 and I kind of liked it. It was also kind of just given to me and I’m like whatever about numbers, so I didn’t care.”
Why did you choose UAB?
CA: “Multiple reasons, but the culture attracted me the most. Coach Norton and I were speaking about it when I first got here that it was a lot of trust for me to come here without a visit and with everything happening with COVID. I just thought back to all of those years in high school where they first recruited me, and I still felt so comfortable with them ever since then. The culture here is really special and different.
Do you have any siblings? How old are they?
CA: “I have an older brother named Mitchell; we call him Mitch. He is turning 23 in October. We are super close, so it is hard to be away from him.”
Do you have any pets?
CA: “No and it’s so sad, but it is because everyone is working, and we travel a lot so it just wouldn’t have been fair on them. I had a cat and a dog growing up, but I was too young to really remember. I want one though. I am obsessed with dogs. My whole family knows I want a dog.”
Who is your biggest inspiration?
CA: “That’s a hard question because I feel like you can be inspired in many aspects of your life by different people. I’d say my parents have a big influence over me just by how they raised me and what I value and my morals. But as I said, you can kind of have multiple inspirations.”
Do you remember what you wanted to be when you grew up?
CA: “I think I always wanted to play basketball, but I didn’t really think about what I wanted to do as an occupation.”
What do you want to be now?
CA: “Great question, I’ll get back to you on that. I definitely want to be involved with sports but not sure what, hopefully some kind of company with sports.”
What are you majoring in?
CA: “I’m majoring in psychology with a minor in human resources, so I’m thinking if I channel human resources into some sort of company around sports.”
What did you do over quarantine?
CA: “I went home in early/mid-March. Luckily for me, I got home right before our main restrictions started. I packed up within a day and was out. If I would have gotten home three days later, they put in a mandatory quarantine for return travelers where you get off the plane and get on a bus to go straight to a hotel for two weeks. I wanted to quarantine anyway because I didn’t want to risk anything with my family, so for the first two weeks, I was just up in my room by myself. I was just glad to be home, even though it sucked not to see my family. Australia put a lot of heavy restrictions on. We went into stage-four lockdown so you couldn’t leave your home and travel five kilometers (3.1 miles) outside your home. There were curfews so you couldn’t be out later than 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. unless you were getting medical assistance or groceries. It was such a hard lockdown, so I couldn’t really do anything while I was home. I wanted to go see my friends and do all the things I normally miss out on which sucked, but it was also kind of nice because my parents were home and I saw them a lot more than I normally would. I tried to work out the best I could with what I had at home, spend time with my family, and I did a lot of cooking. I did attempt bread.”
What do you like to do in your free time?
CA: “I like to hang out with my friends a lot, typically for any sort of meal. I don’t really do much besides that and watching Netflix or listening to music.”
What is your favorite TV show to binge watch?
CA: “Over quarantine it was Ozark. I can always watch Friends as well.”
Who is one artist that you want to see in concert the most?
CA: “I’ve seen Drake live and he was great so I would see him again. I saw Ed Sheeran before he really blew up and it was a really intimate festival. He did this thing where he made the whole crowd go quiet and he sang without a mic and it gave me chills.”
If you could have any actress play you in a movie about your life who would it be?
CA: “Either Jennifer Aniston or Cameron Diaz.”
What is your favorite meal or type of food?
CA: “I love Thai food, I love stir fry, curry. I love an Australian barbeque, that is like home to me, especially in the summer. An Australian barbeque has good steaks, salads, lamb jobs, coleslaw.”
If you could live anywhere in the world where would you live?
CA: “You mean besides Australia? I love home, I just love home, anywhere on the coast I would live there. Besides Australia though, probably Greece.”
What are you looking forward to most in your first basketball season at UAB?
CA: “I really look forward to playing with the girls and competing in a new conference.”
Make sure to check @UAB_WBB on Twitter and UAB_wbball on Instagram all week for more on Claudia Armato.
Secure your women’s basketball season tickets by purchasing the 2020-21 Gold Card for $65 here. The Gold Card is an exclusive offer that grants you admission into all women’s basketball, men’s and women’s soccer, volleyball, baseball and softball events for the upcoming academic year. Contact the UAB Ticket Office at (205) 975-UAB1 for more details.
For more information on the UAB women’s basketball team, follow the Blazers on Twitter (@UAB_WBB) and Instagram (UAB_WBBall). # UAB #
