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Woodbine’s Kerry Player Headed to Rowan Hoops

By Joe Rossi

As the youngest of seven children, Kerry Player learned early about competition.
The 20-year-old Woodbine resident, like her siblings, was home-schooled by parents Jane and Tom Player. An athletic family, basketball was the primary sport of choice for these Players and Kerry got her first taste of organized hoops as an eighth grade pupil. She was part of the Woodbine school team, a recreation league squad and a group of home-schooled participants based in Upper Township.
By the time she reached her senior year at Cape May Technical High School, Player had grown to six feet and garnered well above 1,000 career points and was a dominant rebounder for the upstart Lady Hawks.
“We weren’t known to be a good team, but we made it to the playoffs for the first time,” said Player. “Competing at home with my sisters and brother made me a better player. They were always beating me up on the court and teaching me how to deal with everything.”
Player just completed her second season for the Lady Buccaneers of Atlantic Cape Community College, another upstart program seeking respect. She scored more than 600 points, swept more than 500 boards and blocked over 150 shots in her two seasons in Mays Landing, efforts which garnered her first team Region XIX honors and second team accolades in the Garden State Athletic Conference.
Player, who also took on women’s volleyball for Atlantic Cape, boasts a 3.6 grade point average with one ACCC semester remaining before she travels to Glassboro as a health and physical education major at Rowan University. She’ll attempt to walk-on for the Lady Profs.
“The coach at Rowan recruited me out of high school so she knows who I am,” said Player. “I’d like to be a gym teacher and coach someday and Rowan is close enough to home.”
Harold Harris coached Player as an eighth grader and then again at Atlantic Cape.
“She was among the nation’s leaders in community college blocked shots, scoring and rebounding,” said Harris. “She always listened well and was a joy to be around. And her personality kept things around the team very lively. She’s a great kid and a true leader.”
Player said she “loved playing with the girls,” on the Buccaneer squad. “We never gave up and made it to the playoffs both years. Both years we had good teams.”
She was a part of the Cape Tech volleyball club team and played the sport on the beach with family members. Her height attracted her to the Atlantic Cape volleyball coach, Tim Newkirk.
Player realized that her height would always play a role in her recruitment for volleyball. “He saw me and said, ‘You’re so tall you have to be good.’ So I practiced putting my hands up in front of the net and also wound up being a pretty good hitter.”
Newkirk was very impressed with Player’s acclimation to the sport.
“She was quiet but very athletic,” said Newkirk. “She didn’t have a ton of confidence but she quickly developed into a great blocker and solid middle hitter for us.”
Player has learned effective time management as most successful student-athletes do. You can’t juggle all of the demands of the classroom and athletic arena unless you’re disciplined in how you manage your time. You don’t qualify for the President’s List and Dean’s List while garnering All-Conference and All-Region honors unless you can handle multi-tasking.
Player also works at an Italian restaurant in Avalon and assists with her mother’s cleaning business.
She will finish up at Atlantic Cape this fall and plans to stay in shape and resume her collegiate basketball career in January. “I’m playing this summer with my sister in the Ocean City summer league and I’ll work to stay in shape and go back to playing,” she said.
Despite her height, she’ll be a perimeter player for Rowan. She’s working on ball handling, outside shooting and another boost in confidence. “I’m not actually going to be a big girl at that level,” she said. “I have to work on my outside game.”
Reach Rossi at joerossi61@comcast.net Kerry Player Headed to Rowan Hoops

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