One PNW athlete has a passion outside of sports.
Women’s Basketball forward Abbie McDowell collects and builds LEGO sets.
“I enjoy collecting LEGO Star Wars sets,” said McDowell, a Cybersecurity graduate student. “I currently have about 15 of them.
“It’s relaxing to build them and it’s a good method to de-stress for me,” she said. “The directions just say what to do and they are easy to follow. It’s fun seeing the progress … whether the set takes half an hour or a few hours to build.”
McDowell says collecting LEGO sets has been a hobby of hers since her childhood.
“I’ve gone and collected sets from years back,” said McDowell. “I’ve been a Star Wars fan since I was a kid, and my brother and I used to get all of the old sets.”
Her favorite is the X-Wing fighter.
“The memories of seeing it in the movies …make it my favorite,” she said. “It was fun to build and I like the style of it. The X-Wing has a mechanism where the wings can raise and lower in it.”
But McDowell’s Lego passion extends beyond Star Wars. She also collects LEGO car sets.
“I love cars in general and it’s fun to collect all the different types,” said McDowell. “My favorite is the Lamborghini Countach.”
McDowell said there are different Lego seasons.
“Around the holidays, I build a lot because I get them as presents,” she said. “All the new cars will be released on March 1st.
“I’ll check stores like Meijer or Target throughout the year just to see if they have sales on sets. I’ve been able to get some half off that way,” McDowell said. “Otherwise, I usually just get sets when they first release or around Christmas.”