See all posts in the Kirk’s Captain Corner series
(Kirk’s Captain Corner is a regular feature that lets Carver County residents get to know the student-leaders of the various teams in our high schools. Today we kick off the spring sports season by featuring senior Kaedynn DeBruine, co-captain of the Chaska Hawks softball team.)
How long have you been playing softball?
13 years
What do you enjoy the most about the sport?
I enjoy playing with my teammates and getting to play outside.
What position do you play, and what do you love the most about playing it?
I play second base most of the time. I like playing middle infield because you get a lot of touches and opportunities to make plays.
You just wrapped up basketball season with a trip to the state tournament and had to jump immediately into softball season with basically no break. How challenging has that been?
It’s a great problem to have, but going from one sport to the next, I didn’t have a lot of time to heal physically. I have had to deal with some ankle issues for a lot of basketball season and the jump immediately into softball doesn’t give a lot of recovery time. While I wouldn’t change it for the world, without a break between, I haven’t had a lot of time to prepare for softball. Typically, between the two sports I have time to get some hitting practice and work with coaches to prepare.
How does basketball conditioning differ from softball conditioning?
Basketball conditioning is a lot of working up your endurance, as it’s constant running, but softball is a lot of conditioning for muscles to prepare them for the constant repetition that softball is. I can already feel after a few practices how sore some muscles are that I haven’t had to use as much for basketball.
What are your plans for next year?
I plan to attend the University of Iowa and study biomedical engineering on a pre-med track.
What has it meant to you to be a team captain?
Because of basketball, I haven’t gotten to really step into the role of softball captain as much as I would have hoped, but it was an honor to be voted as a leader by my teammates. It’s an honor to know that my teammates feel that I can not only be helpful on the field but can also help keep morale high. I can’t wait to be all my teammates’ biggest cheerleader and set an example for them as we progress into the season.
