Bela Cucuta, a sophomore girls basketball player at Newington High School in Connecticut, announced on Sunday that she signed an NIL deal with “I Believe Skills Academy” in New Britain.
Cucuta is considered to be the first girls high school basketball player in the state to ink a deal.
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“Happy To Be Apart Of The Family 😤,” Cucuta wrote on a Twitter post.
Happy To Be Apart Of The Family ???? pic.twitter.com/Mt3yrbz6kv
— bela cucuta (@bela_cucuta) January 9, 2023
The 5-foot-10 guard has been trained for over a year by Kahari Beaufort, the founder of the academy, who also played professionally overseas.
“Kahari saw it as a good opportunity to invest in me,” Cucuta said, via the Hartford Courant. “I feel like, for me, it’s a great opportunity.”
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The Hartford Courant reported that Beaufort said on Sunday night that he had a “few things lined up for Bela” and those announcements are expected to come over the next couple of months.
“I saw a lot of talent in Bela, I’ve been training her for a year and a half, two years,” Beaufort said, via the website. “I felt good about signing her.”
Averaging 15.6 points per game, Cucuta currently leads Newington in scoring.
