Northwestern University Athletics
10 Questions with Kendall Hackney
10/23/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Oct. 23, 2009
2009-10 Women's Basketball Media Guide
EVANSTON, Ill. -- Every week leading up to the season opener at Toledo, NUsports.com will shoot 10 questions at a member of the basketball team. Join us every Friday for an inside look at what it's like being a women's basketball student-athlete in-season at Northwestern. Kendall Hackney, a freshman guard/forward, is our first profile.
What's the biggest difference the high school game and the college game?
"The speed is the huge difference for me. The girls are so athletic and so fast. Adjusting to the game is pretty hard, but I think the freshmen are doing a really good job, so it's been good. It's fun but it's tough. It's just a transition, from the speed and competitiveness of the girls; they're stronger and bigger."
What has surprised you the most off the court in your first two months of college?
"I would say the weightlifting. Weightlifting has been tough, but it's good because I've been getting stronger. In high school you did some lifting, but not nearly to the degree that we're doing right now. We're definitely getting stronger, and it's nice to see the results. I'm actually getting a little muscle that's visible."
What has been the biggest adjustment in becoming a Northwestern student?
"It's definitely been adjusting to the work load and time management. I knew that it was going to be tough, having my schedule with basketball and school all the time, but I had no idea how bad it was going to be. So it's been pretty tough, but that's part of learning and being more responsible with your time."
One word that describes the first week of practice is...
"Time-consuming. We had two-a-days right away. We had Friday night [practice], then Saturday morning, then Saturday afternoon, then Sunday morning and afternoon. It was very time-consuming, but we learned a lot."
The best dorm food is...
"Allison Hall, where I live! We have an awesome salad bar; it's like 20 feet long, which is really long for a dorm salad bar. There's pretty good pizza, and they have awesome cookies, too."
In the past two months I have learned...
"That you really need to work hard to achieve what you want to achieve. You can't just sit back and let some things go and do some other stuff. You have to do it all in order to be the best athlete, the best student and the best person that you want to be. I think that's especially the case in college, because there's so much you have to do and keep up with. Keeping involved and doing the most you can at the best possible rate that you can is when you're going to be successful."
My favorite part of practice is...
"When we warm up? No, I'm just kidding. I love when we scrimmage at the end. We really get to put all of our stuff together, with our offense that we went over earlier in practice, or the defense that we've been working on. So that's the best part, because we really get to compete and it's fun."
The teammate who has helped me the most in my first two months is...
"I think Amy [Jaeschke] has been a huge help. We share similar positions and I work with her a lot on the offensive and defensive ends. Off the court as well though, she's always been there to give Dannielle [Diamant] and I rides. She's been a great help, not only because she's the same position, but we're getting along really well and it's been fun working with each other."
My favorite class this quarter is...
"I really like Intro to Fiction. It's an English class and we have a really cool professor. It's a lot of reading but it's good stuff. We've read Frankenstein, some Sherlock Holmes, and now we're reading Dracula, so it's a pretty cool class."
Coach McKeown...
"Coach McKeown is a wonderful person, and I really respect him. I'm really looking forward to playing for him for four years. His personality is great, he's kind of like my old high school coach, and I really love that in him. He's a great fatherly figure, but he's going to push you to the point where you're going to get better. Besides that, he's there for me off and on the court, which is the most important aspect to me. He's there for me as a person, not just as a basketball coach."
For more on Kendall, and the rest of the women's basketball team, click on the link to the 2009-10 media guide above.
