Helping Kayla Remember
by Chris Ballard
At first, Kayla Hutcheson figured she'd just busted up her nose. No big deal, right? After all Kayla, a freshman power forward at Walla Walla (Wash.) Community College, had spent much of her life playing through sprained ankles and stitched-up chins. This is a girl who played football through the eighth grade. As a tight end. Against boys. A little blood didn't scare her.
So when she banged face-first into teammate Jeni Gabriel on a full-court press drill during practice in October, she tried to walk it off. Even persuaded her coach, Bobbi Hazeltine, to let her run sprints with the rest of the team at the end of practice. "Her fastest time of the year too," says Hazeltine, who clocks such things. (There's a reason Walla Walla was 9--2 at week's end.)
Click to expand...