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Bill Freeman: Young Gun
At age 7, Bill Freeman realized from watching game fi lm that he had a habit of
double dribbling every time he got the basketball.
“I just watched myself on video and would try to get better,” he said.
Freeman continues to look at his own performance with a critical eye and finds
new ways to improve his game. That commitment has allowed the Roosevelt High
School junior to become one of the top players on his team and, his coach says, one of the best young players in the state.
“Looking at the juniors out there, he’s got the athletic ability to be one of the better
juniors in the state,” coach Paul Doerrfeld said. Freeman’s natural athletic ability and
strong work ethic have put him on the path to becoming a “complete player,” he said,
praising his strengths in ball handling and shooting that grew out of years of dedication.
The last year has allowed Freeman to mature as a player and begin to better
understand the game.
“There’s still lots of room for him to grow, but he’s a great kid, very coachable,
and wants to learn,” Doerrfeld said. “He’s the fi rst in the gym and the last to leave the
gym.”
A second-year starter at guard and forward, Freeman started playing basketball
in a church league at age 5. When he moved to Des Moines from Virginia in fi fth
grade, he credits AAU basketball and former coach Dan Johnson with easing the
transition into a new town and a new school.
It was also at that time that he began to be so focused on basketball that his
grades began to suffer. While in fi fth grade, his father came to him and reminded
him that school had to come fi rst. He refocused his priorities, even skipping out on
practices at times to do schoolwork. His grades improved, and school has continued
to be priority No. 1 for Freeman. He enjoys American history and aspires to be an
entrepreneur.
He has taken the same approach to basketball as he did to improving his grades.
Old-fashioned self discipline – he trains on his own at the YMCA – has allowed him
to improve his jump shot, speed and agility. When he started high school and began
practicing with Roosevelt’s varsity team, he discovered a weakness in his game that
was costing him playing time.
“I was usually focused on scoring, but at that level I needed to work on my
defense,” Freeman said. “My coach wasn’t playing me, so I worked on defense and I
started getting playing time.”
Good is never good enough for Freeman. He has his sights set on a college
basketball career, and is willing to do whatever it takes to make that happen. Though
he continues to work on his own game, he has also given attention to making his
teammates better, “because every coach likes a player who can make their team
win even if they don’t score a lot,” he said.
Doerrfeld said Freeman has come to recognize the need to step up as a leader
on the team and is learning to be more vocal. “I think they’re responding to him
great,” Doerrfeld said. “I think his teammates respect him and look for him on the
floor and want to be led by him.”
The Roughriders were 3-4 heading into winter break, with experience presenting
some challenges. Freeman is the only player who received significant playing time
during the 2006-2007 season, when Roosevelt finished 10-12.
“We’re on the verge of doing some really good things, but we’re a really young
team,” Doerrfeld said. With younger players such as Freeman continuing to improve,
he is confident the team will experience greater success in the coming years. |
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Cathy Kain: Scoring Machine
At the end of afternoon basketball practices, Cathy Kain is the one who
grabs a ball and goes through shooting practice alone.
The extra repetitions have paid off, allowing the Saydel High School junior to
break the school’s scoring record in December.
“She’s always willing to go the extra mile,” coach Scott Powell said. “She’s
had that philosophy her whole life.”
Her approach to athletics – she also plays volleyball, tennis and softball
for the Eagles – is largely due to the encouragement of her father, Dennis. He
coached her fi fth and sixth grade AAU teams, as well as her seventh grade
team at school. He assists the Saydel High School team on occasion, and
worked with Kain throughout the summer on shooting drills and ball handling.
She gives her father a great deal of credit for her success in basketball.
“He’s a really big fundamentalist and has helped me through the years,” she
said.
Kain’s offseason efforts have improved her shooting percentages – she
scored 28 points and had six steals in the Eagles’ season opener against Albia
– and have given the team the boost it needed to step up to the next level.
Powell said she has great instincts and knows when to move and when to get to
the basket and has been able to execute some fairly acrobatic plays.
“She’s our third guard, but we do a lot of cuts to the basket where we get her
in and around the hoop,” he said. “We do a lot of freestyle stuff – plays where
she has to read the defense.” At 5’11” Kain is the tallest player on the team, but
Powell has kept her at the guard position to prepare her for college basketball,
as she will likely continue to play guard at that level.
Though basketball is her favorite sport, she has shown great talent in other
disciplines as well. She is a standout middle hitter on the volleyball team, the
No. 1 singles player on the varsity tennis team and plays shortstop on the softball
team, which fi nished fourth in the state tournament this past summer.
Kain has become a go-to player on a Saydel team that has its sights set on
achieving new highs this year. The team has achieved 10-win seasons only four
times during its history, with three of those coming in the past three seasons.
The 2006-2007 team went 10-13, and this year’s team has shown even greater
promise with Kain’s improvements in the offseason and the addition of senior
point guard Cathy Hernandez, a transfer student. The Eagles were 5-3 heading
into winter break.
“We’ve always been a great defensive team, but our offense has struggled,”
Powell said. “We’ve made leaps and bounds from last year in terms of scoring
points.” In its fi rst game, Saydel defeated Albia 62-38, having lost to the Lady
Dees in 2006. Another big win came Nov. 30 over Carroll, a team Saydel, to its
knowledge, had never before beaten.
Kain and fellow co-captain Kayleee Christensen, a senior guard, have provided
leadership that was noticeably absent last season.
“Last year we had a great, talented group of girls, but our leadership on the
fl oor and in the locker room wasn’t there,” Powell said. “Everyone was looking
around waiting for somebody else to do something, and this year’s it’s a nonissue.” |
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