By
Craig Ostroff
To
see how important Nicole Kaiser is to the Upper Dublin girls’ basketball team, there’s
no need to flip through the scorebook or examine her statistics.
To
see the effort Kaiser puts in every day, to see the unwavering work ethic, to
see how much heart and soul she leaves on the floor, look no further than her
knees and elbows.
“If
you look at Nicole’s elbows and knees, you’d know what she means to this team
and what kind of hustle she puts forth in games and practices,” said Cardinals’
coach Morgan Funsten. “There’s not a spot on her knees and elbows that are not
covered in bruises.”
 |
| Upper Dublin senior Nicole Kaiser |
Kaiser
doesn’t consider those cuts and scrapes as badges of honor or battle scars.
They’re just the result of doing what needs to be done for the team to be successful.
And Kaiser is ready and willing to do whatever it takes to earn the W. There
may be no place in the scorebook to record who dove to save an errant pass from
going out of bounds, but the two or three points it leads to can have a huge
effect on the final score.
“Loose
balls are there for anyone … and it’s just who wants it more,” Kaiser said.
“Going after loose balls, doing whatever you have to do to make a play, at this
point of the season, one of the most important parts of the game is who wants
it more and hustles more. That makes a huge difference.”
That
hustle, that effort, that leadership from Kaiser – as well as from her fellow
senior co-captain Maggie Weglos – has played a huge part in leading a very
young Cardinal team to a stellar regular season and a remarkable ongoing
postseason run that has seen the squad become only the second team in program
history to reach the PIAA State Quarterfinals.
To
reach the quarters, the Cardinals rallied to down District 3 top seed Garnet
Valley in the second round, but it was the state opener that will remain one of
Kaiser’s all-time greatest memories on the floor for the red-and-white.
After
being discharged from the state tourney in the opener last year by Cardinal
O’Hara, Upper Dublin faced District 12’s top seed in this year’s opener as
well. Though the Lions boast several Division I recruits – and held a
double-digit lead in the first half – the Cardinals employed a stifling defense
as they battled their way back to pull off a stunning 42-35 upset.
“That
win felt amazing,” Kaiser said. “We had a bunch of girls step up throughout the
game, we didn’t give up, and everyone kept playing hard.”
“I can’t
say enough about the entire group from the O’Hara game,” Funsten added. “After
being embarrassed by them last year, the level of focus all the girls had, and
the leadership from Nicole and Maggie, it was remarkable.”
A
key factor in the Cardinals’ season – and in overcoming large deficits in critical
games – has been their ability to refocus and bounce back after heartbreaking
losses. Though the Cards’ record stands at 22-5, those handful of losses
include a double-overtime loss to Plymouth Whitemarsh, a triple-OT defeat at
the hands of Lancaster Catholic, and a three-point loss to Council Rock North
in the district playoffs.
Young
though the team may be, the Cardinals know how to respond to adversity. And
that ability can be traced directly back to the leadership that Kaiser and
Weglos provide.
“If
you saw the practices we had the day after each of those tough losses, you
would not be surprised with us being able to turn it around,” Funsten said. “Teams
will follow what the leaders do. Nicole and Maggie, they were embarrassed, mad,
upset after those losses. And they showed the rest of the team what needed to
be done.
“Those
day-after practices, sometimes you come in and you’re feeling horrible coming
off a loss. I can honestly say that I got chills at times watching them
practice the next day after a loss. It wasn’t sulking, it was practicing with the
purpose of improving. Nicole and Maggie were leading them, showing them how to
bounce back, how to be resilient. And the rest of the team took it to heart and
learned from it.”
Kaiser
is quick to share any such credit with her coaching staff, and especially with her
fellow captain.
“I
try to be a little bit of both a vocal leader and a leader by example,” Kaiser
said. “I think I’m more the lead-by-example type, where Maggie’s got more of an
outgoing personality, she’s always talking. But I think either of us are
willing to step up and give the hype speech or the serious talk, and we both
work really hard in practice. And you just hope that all trickles down to the
rest of the team.”
That
work ethic has been instilled in Kaiser since her earliest days on the athletic
fields.
“You’re
not handed anything,” she said. “You’ve got to work for it. And I really just
love the game, so I’ve never felt like it was a chore to go out and shoot or to
practice. I enjoy it, and I think that makes me work hard to earn my playing
time.”
It
was an incident in soccer – not basketball – that instilled that attitude in
Kaiser. She had played both sports as a youngster, but in the fall of eighth
grade, she was cut from the middle school soccer team.
“I
was upset that I got cut, but I realized that I would play soccer in the fall, and
once the season was over, I wouldn’t play again until next fall,” she said.
“That put things in perspective for me. If you want to be good at something, you
have to put your all into it and work on it all the time.
“So
I started focusing on basketball. And all through what would have been soccer
season, I played basketball all the time, and I really started falling in love
with it.”
Strong
camaraderie on her first AAU basketball team helped seal the deal for Kaiser.
And when she wasn’t practicing or working out with her AAU friends, she and her
father would spend countless hours in the driveway or at the YMCA shooting
hoops or running drills.
“My
dad has been a huge part of my success,” Kaiser said. “He worked with me a lot.
I wouldn’t be anywhere without him helping me throughout my career. It started
with what he saw in me when I was younger and believing in me throughout the
whole thing, he encouraged me to work harder and get better, and he worked with
me to help me get better.”
That
she did. That work ethic saw Kaiser go from an eighth grader with unrealized
potential, to a much-improved freshman who earned some varsity playing time, to
a sophomore with an increased role on the team. From there, Kaiser blossomed
into a two-time First-Team All-League selection.
“Nicole
has worked so hard to get to where she is,” Funsten said. “We always keep our
eye on the middle school and pay attention to the top players, and Nicole will
tell you, there were several girls on her eighth-grade team who were ahead of
her. She really caught our eye in ninth grade as a player who was improving
daily. She earned some very valuable minutes as a sophomore, and her junior
year was just a huge leap forward in her development.
“And
now, she does whatever we ask her to do, and she does it well. If the team
needs energy, she’s there to provide energy. She’s a relentless rebounder,
scorer, we’ve asked her to step up her game defensively as well this year, and
she’s turned into great defensive player.”
And
though her game has changed and improved over the years, some things never
change. Kaiser admits to being a very superstitious person when it comes to
preparing for basketball games. Without giving too many secrets away, let’s
just say there are more than a few items of clothing that Kaiser needs to wear
to every game, and that the local Wawa had better be fully stocked on soft
pretzels and Cliff bars on days where the Cardinals take to the court.
But
no matter how many more games remain in Upper Dublin’s historic season, Kaiser
knows these are not only her last high school games, but also her curtain call
for her competitive basketball career. In the fall, Kaiser will head to the
University of Central Florida with an eye on pursuing a degree in marine
biology. And if UCF Knights’ basketball is in her future, it will be as a fan
rather than as a player.
“When
I was deciding on college, what was really important to me was that I had to
love the school whether it was with or without playing basketball there,” she
said. “I wanted to make sure I didn’t choose a school just for basketball. I visited
a few schools and couldn’t see myself there if not for basketball.
“I
absolutely fell in love with UCF when I walked on campus. It was one of the toughest
decisions I’ve ever made to choose not to play basketball in college, but that
also makes this season more special for me. I want it to be our best season. I don’t
want to look back and ever regret anything, I want to finish strong with what I
started at Upper Dublin, and I’m hoping maybe I’ll be able to play club
basketball in college.”
And
when this young Upper Dublin squad returns next season, a year older and more
experienced, what lessons does she hope she’s helped to instill in the
underclassmen?
“I
hope they remember that you have to want it more than the other team, but more
than that, you also have to work harder,” she said. “I think the main thing
Maggie and I want to leave behind is staying focused, if things go wrong, you
have to stay focused, bounce back, and work even harder.”
This article originally appeared on SuburbanOneSports.com
