SAN JUAN (FIBA Americas Championship for Women) - There is more than meets the eye for every player that runs up and down the floor for clubs or countries.

One can't help but be moved by the heartwarming story of Angelica Bermúdez, a player who has overcome a difficult childhood to not only obtain a college degree but also compete professionally, and for Puerto Rico.

The 23-year-old was in Omar Gonzalez's side that captured the Pan American Games gold medal in 2011 and she also made the squad that travelled to Turkey for this summer's FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament for Women.

Angelica, whose father was incarcerated for armed robbery when she was a small girl, grew up in a single-family home in New Jersey.

Her mother, Sonia Lozano, couldn't hold on to a job and struggled to look after Angelica and her older brother.

She eventually told her children they would have to go and live with another member of the family, or be put up for adoption.

Life was full of uncertainty and sadness for Angelica, who had discovered basketball at the age of 12 and made the junior high school team at St Anthony's in New Jersey.

"One of my friends (Shanna Allen) in the team saw me crying at school and asked me what was wrong and I told her," Angelica said in an interview with Primera Hora newspaper.

"That night she went home and told her mother and they talked and decided they were going to help me.

"They told my mother that if I continued to go to that school, they would help raise me until my mother was able to take me back."

After moving in with her new family, her foster mother, Janet, saw that Angelica was troubled and encouraged her to keep a diary and write down her thoughts.

Doing that, and playing basketball, helped Angelica find peace.

To this day, she writes in her diary.

Angelica finished high school and matriculated to an NCAA Division III school, the Kean University in New Jersey.

There she played basketball and also graduated with a degree in criminal justice.

Offered the chance to compete in Puerto Rico, the homeland of her grandparents, Angelica moved there and made the team of Atléticas de San Germán in the Baloncesto Superior Nacional femenino.

Ten games into the season and Gonzalez invited her into the national side.

Angelica said: "To play in the national team is something that not every girl is able to say she has done.

"It's a great experience.

"I will always be thankful to my island, where I come from."

When Angelica reflects on her life, she accepts that it's been difficult.

Yet she is not bitter.

“I don't regret anything and wouldn't change anything," she said.

"Everything helped me to be the person I am today and the player I am today.

"I had to grow up quickly and I believe that if I hadn't gone through that, I wouldn't be here today."

FIBA