Intensity Personified: Kjersten Bakke's Hard Work Pays Off
November 20, 2003 | Women's Basketball
At 5-11, Kjersten Bakke is not a prototypical Big Ten post player. In a league that boasts some of the largest front courts in the country, there is little room for athletes under six feet tall. Big Ten competition aside, Bakke must contend with one of the tallest frontcourts in the nation everyday at practice. However, what she concedes in height she equalizes with a voracity and intensity rivaled by few.
Don't let her articulate, well-composed demeanor fool you. When she gets on the court, all reservation is abandoned and replaced by intensity that she has trouble accounting for. It's funny, she mused in a recent interview, both of my parents are calm and easy going. I guess intensity is something I was born with.
Bakke's game is well suited for the new style of play expected by first year coach Lisa Stone. "She's extremely intense and preaches a tough, defensive, in-your-face, up tempo game," says Bakke. "With coach Stone, there's not a lot of down time."
A tireless competitor on the court, Bakke's diehard ethic transcends the hardwood. It's hard to believe she has time for school but, true to form, she manages to stay competitive in the classroom by squeezing everything into days that often begin at 6:30 a.m. and end around midnight. A 4.0 student at DeForest High School, she aspires to one day practice orthopedic surgery, but that's only one of many things she wants to do. "I have about fifteen things I want to do, but in four years I cant complete fifteen degrees."
Even in the weight room, others can't help but notice her determination. "She's a real blue collar kid," says strength and conditioning coach Scott Hettenbach. "I don't have to worry about motivating Kjersten. She knows what's expected. Whether its 6 a.m. in the morning or 7 p.m. after practice, she's ready to come in here and get after it."
Only a sophomore, Bakke already owns two team weight lifting records for the bench press and hang clean. "She's extremely explosive," says Hettenbach. A trait that he claims followed Kjersten from track and field. A WIAA Division I runner-up in the discus and shot put in high school, Bakke flirted with joining the track team the spring of her freshman year but decided to red-shirt upon further review. "If I can't compete well in something, and have a performance representative of something I can do, I wont do it."
Instead, she decided to work on refining her post moves and expanding her shooting range. Being only 5-11, I can't always go with the first move. I have to be more patient in the post; it's a lot of move then counter move. And her hard work is starting to pay off.
At 6:30 a.m., the morning of this year's first exhibition game, Bakke was jarred out of bed by an ecstatic voice on the other end of her phone. After her early morning haze cleared, she realized who belonged to the voice and most importantly, what it was trying to tell her. It was her mother, and she was calling to tell her that she would be starting that night's game. "The night before, Coach Stone hadn't told us who was starting," recalls Bakke. "It was a total surprise to me when my Mom called; I didn't even know. It was a shock but it was a great shock."
Despite her recent success, Bakke, more than ever, remains focused on being the hardest working player on the floor. Look for Bakke to up her intensity even more in the future, a commitment that she feels will take her team and their game to the next level.
After a 2-0 exhibition record, the Badgers open their regular season with Northern Illinois Sunday at 1:30 p.m. in the Kohl Center.
