It takes more than statistics for coaches to evaluate basketball players. There is so much more to the game than just scoring. For Oak Lawn Community High School senior Kaitlyn Berkery, her greatest athlete comes below the surface of a stat sheet.
For the record, she averages five points, four rebounds, two assists, and two steals per game. However, leading by example and stepping up to defend the opponent’s biggest and strongest player set her apart from other girls on the court. Often, the opponent she is defending is at least six inches taller than she
is, but that doesn’t stop Berkery from charging into action down in the paint and getting the job done.
“Kait’s stats might not jump off the page and catch your eye, but all the things that every coach looks for in a player and that every team needs to succeed, she possesses,” head coach Mark Sevedge said. “She has been a leader from Day 1 as an athlete at OLCHS; she’s the type of leader that her teammates can count on for just about anything.
“She knows the playbook inside and out and can direct her teammates to where they are supposed to be and what they need to do. We don’t always designate just one or two players as captains of our team, but Kait embodies the characteristics of what a captain should be. She has been a three-year
varsity player, and we owe a lot of our success to her effort and dedication.”