Acorn

Senior K.K. Foster defies the athlete stereotype. Her 5-feet-7-inch frame doesn�t identify her as a basketball player. Her blonde, shoulder-length hair doesn�t really distinguish her in anyway, either, but she has a slight and athletic build.

Contrary to the typical vision of an athlete, Foster carries a backpack that rivals a medium-sized sedan and a large yellow sketchbook that marks her as an artist.

This description might beg the question, �How could she be the Ranger of the Week?� The answer is that Foster is one of the best examples of the student-athlete at Drew, and her perseverance distinguishes her from the best of Drew�s athletes.

�I found that there was no reason to give up,� Foster said. Over the course of her college career, Foster has only played one complete season.

She transferred to Drew late in her freshman season, pulled all of the ligaments in her thumb in her junior year, and tore her anterior cruciate ligament before this year�s season began. She played just one half of each of the last two seasons. �I had never quit anything before, and I loved basketball too much to quit [for the first time],� she said. But Foster had plenty of reasons to leave the team given her lack of playing time, injuries and adjustment to a different role from high school, where she was a perennial starter.

�I saw [my time off the court] as an opportunity to motivate the team,� said Foster. Despite her hardships, Foster never missed a practice. She would spend two hours on her rehab program and then attend team practice to cheer her teammates on.

�If my teammates saw me there, they would have no excuse to miss either,� said Foster. By continuing to go to practices, Foster provided stability and cohesion at a time when the team needed it. There have been three coaches during Foster�s four years at Drew.

�A coach can really affect the team with her style,� said Foster. One of the former coaches would get upset and say the team didn�t look like it wanted to be there.

�Why would we still play if we didn�t want to be there?� said Foster. �Because of [the attitude] last year, we really lacked motivation this year.� Foster provided that drive, and it will be her legacy. �K.K. has definitely been a motivating force for the entire team,� said freshman forward Ann Mularz.

Foster has a creative side that also feeds her ability to inspire her teammates. Before each game, the players exchange �psychs� to get each other pumped up. Foster has always loved drawing, and she always drew pictures for her teammates� �psychs.� Last season she even designed sweatshirts for all of the seniors.

�Drawing has always been a creative outlet for me,� said Foster.

She has used it to get through some tough times at Drew. She is also a writer and will graduate with a creative writing minor this spring.

Foster�s multiple dimensions set her apart as an ideal student-athlete, and she hopes to continue this in her professional life after she graduates, when she wants to do magazine layout.

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