Losing against girls is part of Wichita State student Kamaui Thompson’s job.

He is a member of the WSU women’s basketball practice squad.

“It’s kind of funny, you never would think a girl could get so aggressive,” Thompson said. “They really make you play. We lose almost every time.”

Along with other volunteers, Thompson practices with the team by participating in drills and also by scrimmaging against them.

Like other guys in the practice squad, Thompson was playing basketball in the Heskett Center when he was approached by the WSU women’s basketball staff and asked if he wanted to come practice against the team.

“I was at the Heskett playing noon ball when the director, Michael Gomez, asked me if I want to come work out with the team,” Thompson said.

The purpose of having guys on the practice squad, Thompson said, is to “imitate D-I competition.”

“Guys are bigger, faster and stronger,” Thompson said. “They want to mimic the intensity of the D-I level.”

Another member of the practice squad, Jasmine Jones knows about the D-I level — she was a senior on the women’s team last year.

Jones said her motivation for practicing with team even though she cannot play is “to keep up the progress we made last year.”

“I wanted to make sure that we were still working hard and that we would be getting back to where we were last year,” Jones said.

Last year, the team made their first performance in the NCAA tournament.

This is what makes Jones want to be a motivator during practice.

“My role is like last year. I am still supposed to go hard and make them better,” Jones said. “I help them out by telling what they can do better and [motivating] them. I motivate them by cheering them on, telling them that they can do it.”

Women’s head coach Jody Adams said there are multiple benefits of having a practice squad that competes against the team.

“They are guys. They are bigger, stronger and faster. They have a high level of aggressiveness which makes us work hard on every level,” Adams said. “We believe it’s a benefit to have them in practice. If we can defend them, if we can box them out, if we can score against them, then we should be able to do that against our opponent.