Ever since middle school, Newport senior Betsy Kingma has dreamed of playing basketball for Seattle Pacific University.

Her uncle Gregg was an All-American basketball player at Seattle Pacific. Her aunt Gail, Gregg’s wife, was a cross country athlete for the Falcons. She had numerous cousins attend the school, and viewing SPU women’s basketball games has been a staple in the Kingma house for years.

So when it came time to sign on the dotted line, and Kingma officially committed to play basketball at SPU, it was a dream come true.

“I’ve said I wanted to play at SPU for a long, long time,” Kingma said. “When the opportunity finally came around…it seemed like a pretty obvious choice to me.”

Kingma, who led the Knights to the Class 4A state tournament last season, was just one of the area athletes who signed National Letters of Intent in the early signing period last week.

She wasn’t the sole Newport athlete either – fellow seniors Trace Tam Sing (baseball) and Jami Shimada (soccer) also signed.

Tam Sing, who led the Knights in hits (21), runs (13) and doubles (5) last season, signed with Washington State University and coach Donnie Marbut.

“I really liked the coaching staff over there, and it’s a great atmosphere – a college town where everything is about the school,” said Tam Sing, who led the Knights to the Class 4A state semifinals at Safeco Field last year. “The coaching staff over there, they were on my case a lot, calling me, emailing me and all of that. They made the decision easy.”

Tam Sing, who was being courted by every Pac-10 school and several others, including traditional powerhouse Cal State Fullerton, said coach Brian Fischer told him to do what was best for him – and for Tam Sing, that was signing with the Cougars.

“Fisch basically told me to go wherever I wanted to go and what fit me best,” he said. “It was a tough decision, but I think I have the best opportunity over at WSU.”

Shimada signed last week to play at Sacremento State, alongside club soccer teammate and Woodinville senior Danielle Hollister.

“I’ve always wanted to go out of state,” said Shimada, a midfielder who scored three goals and two assists for Newport this season. “I’ve always wanted to get away and California always seemed pretty cool.”

For Shimada, who was considering attending Western Washington, the chance to play Division I (Sacramento State is Division I-AA) was too much to pass up.

“If I passed that up,” she said, “I’d always wonder why I didn’t do it.”

Interlake’s Maddy Schiappa, an 11-time letter earner for Interlake, signed to play softball at the University of Connecticut. An All-KingCo softball player and member of Interlake’s International Baccalaureate program, she’s the first Saints softball player in several years to sign a Division I letter of intent.

“Our school sports have been improving, and I feel like I’m part of the start and showing others can do it too,” she said.

Schiappa, who grew up on the East Coast, was also considering West Point, George Mason, the University of Pennsylvania and Rutgers before settling on UConn.

“Out of all the schools, it was the best fit for me,” Schiappa said. “It felt good to be there. I liked that it was suburban and rural more than a city.”

Other former area athletes also signed letters of intent. Bellevue’s Colton Christian, a 2008 graduate and current prep school attendee on the East Coast, signed to play basketball at Tulane, while Bellevue College golfer Paul Pavlos signed with Seattle University.