Athletes just don't come like Wave's Yohn very often
Katie Yohn is breaking the mold.
More and more in today's high school sports world, once an athlete commits to a college scholarship, he or she gives up playing any other sport. The fear of injury, the time to concentrate on the "chosen" sport and pressure from college coaches to not play other sports are largely the reasons behind the dwindling number of athletes who compete in other sports once they've settled on a college.
Not Katie Yohn, though. With a basketball scholarship to Bradley University safely tucked in her back pocket, it would have been easy for Yohn, now a senior believe it or not, to respectfully tell St. Edward volleyball coach Jaime Walton that she just couldn't play for the Green Wave this fall.
Instead Yohn, the honorary co-captain of the 2007-08 Daily Herald All-Area girls basketball team, is not only playing volleyball but will likely play softball this spring for coach Mike Rolando.
"I told coach Ro that if Kristi Knott played volleyball this year (she is) that I'd play softball," Yohn said earlier this week.
Why? Why play volleyball, then basketball, then softball when it would be easier to just take 500 shots a day and hone those basketball skills?
"I talked to my coach at Bradley (Paula Buscher) and she likes the cross-training I get with volleyball," said the 5-foot-10 Yohn, who will easily be remembered as one of the best all-around athletes to ever compete at any school in this area.
OK, that explains volleyball, in part anyway. But what about softball?
"I'm really competitive and I missed playing a spring sport," said Yohn, who played softball her freshman year but not the past two springs. "I didn't know what to do with myself. I just like being out there, being on the field."
All this on the heels of the busiest summer of her life when her travels with the Full Package Lady Lightning AAU basketball team took her to North Carolina, Texas and Michigan as well as local tournaments and one in Champaign.
"It was really a good summer - one of my best ever," said Yohn, who found time to participate in St. Edward's summer sports camps as well."
Walton, who would have loved to see Yohn pursue volleyball in college, has nothing but respect for her setter, regardless of the sport she chose to play in college.
"When she was in junior high I coached her in our camp and I knew then she was going to be a great athlete," Walton said. "She came downstate to watch us that year and I think that gave her a little volleyball bug. We didn't plan on her being a setter but when I saw her set I said 'Yes!' It was so natural to her. She could easily be a Big Ten setter. She's tall, she's smart and she's athletic."
To Walton's credit, she didn't try to influence Yohn's decision when it came time to choose a sport to play in college. And when Yohn chose basketball, Walton didn't treat her any differently.
"We wanted to make sure she had fun in volleyball because we knew volleyball wasn't her No. 1 sport," Walton said. "I didn't want to push her because I knew basketball was her No. 1. I'm just so proud of her for everything she does. You don't find many three-sport athletes who are as good as she is at everything she does."
Except Hyperdash, of course. Walton says it's the one game Yohn hasn't mastered.
"The kids always joke around that they finally found something Katie isn't good at and we have a good time with that," Walton said.
Yohn, who sill study medical science at Bradley, really wouldn't have her life any other way right now. Sure, she has a chance to become the school's all-time leading scorer in girls basketball this winter, and like most seniors she's probably more than ready to get on with college life, but for now she's devoted to the Green Wave volleyball program.
"I love it," she said. "I've never gone out to impress people and I've never cared who is watching. I just try to go out and play hard all the time."
And she does it 150 percent every night, not really thinking about injury or other conflicts.
"It's always in the back of your mind that you don't want to get hurt," said Yohn, who will enter the basketball season with 1,127 career points. "But you take that risk every time you play anything. To me, the reward is greater than the risk."
So far, Katie Yohn's rewards have been many. And it's a pretty safe bet there are many more to come.
jradtke@dailyherald.com