Tue - 15 May
Written by Sher Jasperse
You might well wonder why Washington’s best girls tennis player and top golfer are running around on a collision course with other athletes as center-midfielders on the Warriors soccer team.
Call it the yin to their yang for two talented athletes who simply can’t choose between their favorite sports – even when those two sports are played during the same season.
“Tennis and soccer are completely different atmospheres,” says senior Katie Hammond, the No. 1 singles player on the Warriors’ undefeated tennis team, currently ranked No. 2 in the state in Class 2A. Hammond sports a dazzling 12-0 record and is ranked No. 2 in singles.
“I like that tennis is a mental game and I like the independence of it,” she says. “In soccer you have a team that you have to depend on and trust. It’s a louder sport, a stadium sport.”
Her fellow midfielder, sophomore MJ Kamin, burst onto the varsity golf scene this year as the Warriors’ No. 1 golfer and one of the best in the Mississippi Valley Conference after waiting on the sidelines last year, when she open-enrolled at Washington. She has two medalist finishes to go with a host of top-fives in her first season on the varsity.
“I like that golf is individual,” she says. “In soccer I like how it isn’t set in stone. You just go out on the field and work hard and it’s really open – and of course I like my teammates.”
The two-sport tango frequently has both girls on the run from one practice or game to another as they do their best to participate fully in both activities. It’s worth the effort, they agree.
“It’s stressful, but it’s fun,” says Hammond, who sometimes chooses to play singles but skip doubles matches so she can get to her soccer game. With the blessing of her tennis coach, she has missed a couple of meets when she was confident her team could win without her.
“It’s crazy,” adds Kamin, who has played both golf and soccer since grade school. “But I’m just so happy I’m able to do both sports because I love them both. It takes a lot of work with my coaches and my family.”
Soccer coach Chad Hollmer admits the situation presents challenges, but says Hammond and Kamin have his full support.
“I’m all for it if kids want to compete at multiple sports,” he says. “At a young age, it can really make for a well-rounded individual.”
He credits both girls with communicating well with their coaches and having the discipline and commitment to perform well as multi-sport athletes and students.
“They are both kind of silent leaders on the team,” he says of Hammond and Kamin, who have both scored goals for the Warriors from their midfield perch. “They demand a lot of respect – through their example, not their talk. They are excellent students, and when you’re involved in so many things, you have to schedule yourself and be organized.”
All roads lead to state
Although Kamin’s family lives in the Kennedy district, she opted to attend high school with the majority of her Franklin Middle School friends who live in the Wash district. That meant playing JV soccer as a ninth grader, even though she practiced with the varsity. She says it was observing Hammond’s double role on the tennis and soccer teams last year that convinced her she could handle a two-sport season.
“Katie is an amazing person and athlete,” she says. “I looked up to her last year. Without Katie, I might not have been able to think I could accomplish this.”
The multi-sport super sophomore joined the Warriors'cross-country team last fall to improve her conditioning and played JV basketball during the winter. She expects to continue competing in all four sports as an upperclassman.
“I was elected captain of the cross country team, so I think I’m set there for the next two years, and hopefully I’ll make varsity in basketball,” she says.
Her golf game has improved steadily with consistent play and competition with the best Metro golfers, including Jefferson’s Megan Furnish and Kennedy's Ali Lindo. The three have nabbed the top spots at several tournaments, and Kamin hopes to join both of them at the state golf tournament this year.
“Playing with Megan and Ali has been a really good experience for me,” Kamin says. “They are both such nice girls. I look forward to it whenever I play them.”
Hammond first picked up a racquet in grade school after watching her older brother, Charlie, a former Washington tennis standout, compete in tournaments. “I always lost horribly,” she laughs.
Undeterred, she kept at it until she began winning. “When I started playing all summer and hitting every day, I got a lot more competitive,” she says.
Last year she finished third in the state in singles competition. The Warriors also placed third in the school’s first state tournament appearance since 1998, and her sights are fixed on the big dance again this year.
“My goals are for our team to go undefeated, and individually I want to do better than last year,” she says.
After reaching the 3A quarterfinals in soccer last year in Washington’s first trip to state, her hopes for the Warriors’ 9-5 soccer team are no less lofty. “I really want to go to state again and keep that tradition going,” she says.
Next year, Hammond will head to Marquette University to pursue a degree in physical therapy and exercise physiology.
“As of right now I’m not playing either sport in college,” she says. “It’s hard to play DI if you don’t train year-round in tennis academies.”
Whether she can live without both of the sports she loves remains to be seen, but she’s holding nothing back in her final campaign as a Warrior. She and Kamin are among the few athletes who have a chance to go to state twice in the same season.
“They’re really dedicated,” says Hollmer. “It speaks volumes for them, trying to be the best they can be and put 100 percent into both sports.”
