Described as one of the hardest workers on her team, 5'7" senior guard Caroline Gruening went from walk-on player to team captain in her four years with the Santa Clara University Broncos. After paying her dues as a freshman and sophomore with few minutes on the court and little opportunity to rack up many impressive statistics, things changed. Her junior year, Gruening stepped up to a starting position, and her third season was capped by honors as an All-WCC honorable mention, WCC All-Academic first team member, a fourth place finish in the league for her three-point field goal percentage (.395), and she held the Broncos' second highest scoring average with 10.1 points per game.

Her senior year has been as successful. The Broncos went 21-10 this season, gaining Gruening her second trip to the NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament. She lead the team in scoring average (11.7) and three-point shooting and ranked second with the Broncos in free-throw percentage (.885). She received a second honorable mention to the WCC All-Conference team, ranked sixth in the league in three-point field goal percentage, and most recently was named one of the National Strength and Conditioning Association's All-American Athletes for 2002.

In this interview, the native Alaskan talks about what made her stand out as a walk-on athlete, this year's NCAA tournament experience, and what she'll miss most about being a student-athlete.

Gball: When did you begin playing basketball?
Gruening: I was in fifth grade and had been playing as part of a parks and recreation league. And then I played in middle school. But I didn't really get serious about it until high school. That's when my coach really got me into the sport.

The summer before my freshman year he took us on a trip down to the Los Angeles area to play in some tournaments, and we participated in the UCLA and Pepperdine team camps. That's when I first started thinking about playing college ball.

What was so appealing to you about the sport?
I also skied, and going into high school I knew I was going to have to make a choice between basketball and skiing, because I couldn't do both. Once I was invited to go on that trip with the basketball team, I figured, "Well we've spent the money doing this, so I might as well stick with it."

But I really have enjoyed the team aspect of basketball and am glad that I've had the opportunity to be part of the sport. It's a good way to learn how to work with other people, which I think is very valuable outside of basketball.

It seems more college players are coming out of Alaska. Is it a big sport there, and do you feel it's an untapped area for talent?
It's big in that a lot of the towns are small communities, so, often, sports get a lot of local support. I think there probably is some talent that goes unnoticed. But part of the problem is the level of competition that we're exposed to is probably not as great as it is in the Lower 48 because there aren't as many players.

When you joined the team at Santa Clara, you weren't recruited. Instead, you were a walk-on player. What made you decide to try out for the team?
I had a really good high school coach who did a great job of preparing me to head out into the college world. And he did everything he could to expose us to college coaches. I had received some letters from Division II and III schools, and I had been recruited by some of the schools in Alaska. But when it came to academics and location, I didn't get an offer that I was interested in.

My coach told me, "You can do whatever you want. And I'm not promising that trying to walk-on will work out. But you can at least give it a shot." So I was happy doing that because I really felt comfortable that the fundamentals he taught us were sound. I guess the hardest part was actually contacting the schools and putting myself out there. Once I did that, and I got to start playing, that was the easy part.

Also, I had talked to the coaches [at Santa Clara] beforehand. I had gone down and played at a San Francisco camp and we had sent them tapes. So they had seen me play before and encouraged me to walk on--though they didn't promise anything. In the end, I was looking at Santa Clara and the University of Portland. And that was a hard decision to make, because they were both good schools with good basketball programs. But there was just something about Santa Clara that I really liked, and it worked out really well.

Describe the experience of trying out. Was it very different than high school tryouts?
When I first got there, we started doing preseason fall conditioning. So I started doing that with the team. Thankfully, I was in pretty good shape. I had worked really hard the summer before and had actually gotten the workout Santa Clara gave all its players. So I did that throughout the summer. When I started doing the running and weights with the team, and the coaches saw that I was one of the more fit players and kept up with everyone else, they were impressed with that.

I had also been playing with the team in open gyms without the coaches present, so the teammates had gotten to know me. The coach talked to the team and then actually told me I'd made the team before we even started practice.

What do you think set you apart from other walk-ons?
We've had other people who've tried to walk on, and for the most part, they come into conditioning and can't keep up. They won't be able to finish the runs we do, they don't touch the lines when we do sprints (which is a big thing with the coaches--you have to touch the lines), and they look lazy. Many of the players that we see try to walk on don't understand what level of competition Division I really is. But I was in good shape, and that was a big thing. That showed them that I really was serious about it.

Was it tough being a non-scholarship athlete on the team?
It is different. When you come in on scholarship, you kind of have an instant family and friends, and as a walk on, I didn't really know if I'd make the team. That was actually the hardest part for me--trying to integrate myself into the team and get to know the girls. But all the girls were very nice and friendly. They were a good group of players who were welcoming, and never treated me differently because I was a walk on.

When you were eventually offered an athletic scholarship, were you surprised?
That was my sophomore year, and it was a big surprise. When I made the team, the coach told me they'd try to get me a scholarship by my junior year--that we'd see how it worked out. Then she called me the summer before my sophomore year because they had an extra scholarship floating around. I actually think they may have had that my freshman year, too, but I don't think they wanted to just come out and give it to me. I think I had to earn it.

Going into your junior season, you became a starter. What brought about that change of role?
It was a combination of personnel changes and the work I'd done to improve the quality of my game. My freshman year, I didn't really play at all. I was one of those players who only got to go in at the end of the game if we were way ahead. My sophomore year, I only got to play 10 minutes a game, but playing that much more was really good experience. It helped me see what I could bring to the game. I worked really hard that summer and improved a lot, and we graduated a couple of guards that year.

What was your emphasis that summer?
Like very other summer, I worked hard to stay in shape. But a big difference was that I stayed at school that summer and I played in a summer Pro-Am league in San Francisco. And then I played at a lot of open gyms in the area. And I think playing so much basketball that summer really helped my game--going to the gym, getting lots of shots up, and working on ball handling. In previous summers, I had gone home and would play at the high school boys' open gym and the girls' open gym. But it wasn't the same as playing against a bunch of different college players who were home for the summer.

Do you have a favorite method for staying fit?
We have a strength and conditioning coach who gives us a whole book of workouts for the summer that says what you're supposed to do every day. So you pretty much stick to that, because you don't have the time or energy to do much else after that. We lift all year round, and our strength and conditioning coach puts us through a power phase, and a maintenance phase, etc.. And then you go play.

Is the fitness aspect of college athletics one of the biggest differences from the high school game?
Yeah, that is a big part of it. When you play Division I college basketball, each player was the star of their high school team, so it's all the best players. So it's a step up in terms of fitness levels. And it's important to be in good shape to prevent injuries.

But I think the biggest difference is the intellectual side of the game. It's much different than the high school game. Because you're not the most athletic or the fastest one on the court anymore, you learn to play with your head, be smart about what you're doing, and use your strengths to your advantage.

What are the keys to being a great guard?
You have to be a student of the game. You have to be really smart, learn and understand how the game develops, and integrate that into when you're playing--knowing when to pass the ball, when to take the open shot. It's also important to get in the gym and shoot lots in the offseason, and develop good ball-handling skills, because being able to handle the ball and shoot makes you harder to guard than being able to do only one or the other. Having more than one dimension to your game is really important.

How important was it to make the NCAA Tournament as a senior?
It was awesome. It was something we talked about from the end of last season until the end of this season. It was something we were working for all year because we had set the Sweet Sixteen as our goal. Getting into the tournament was the first step to achieving that, so we were really excited to get a bid. Unfortunately, we ended up losing the first-round game. But it was a good game, and LSU is a good team. And it was exciting. It was kind of the way we wanted to end our season.

What were the factors in that loss?
It was just two good teams playing good basketball. We really felt like we were playing good basketball, but it was just one of those games that went back and forth. There were a few instances at the end that went in their favor. I don't think anything necessarily went wrong, we just weren't able to pull it out at the end.

Is it hard to see the bright side in those situations? Or did you and your team find satisfaction in simply being there?
We were definitely disappointed that we lost. LSU is a good team, and I think they had some good individual players, but we felt strongly that we were a better team. I look at my first half of the game and the fact that I didn't score. And there are instances in the second half where we made a stupid turnover or missed an easy basket. And you remember those things as a player. But I think you have to look at the whole of the game. LSU made mistakes, too, and that's just the way the game goes. We have to realize that we showed up, played hard, did all we could, and just came up a little bit short.

Overall, the team had a really good year. What was your favorite memory?
That's tough. There are a lot of good ones. My favorite memory would have to be the St. Mary's game in the semifinals of our tournament, because we were down 18 in the first five minutes of the game, and we came back to win. [Gruening scored an all-time high of 34 points.] It was a really emotional game, and it really showed the character our team has. We never got down. St. Mary's jumped on us in the very beginning, but none of us worried. We knew if we just started playing our game we could get back in it. And we did. It was an all-around team effort to win that game. And it was very exciting, because it got us into the championship game of our tournament.

As a senior who has played her last game, what do you think you're going to miss most about your team and teammates?
Well, I still have another quarter to hang out with them and spend time with them. We all get along really well and have a good time joking around, so I think I'll miss getting to spend all that time with them. And I'll miss getting to work with them. I'll be able to play in open gyms with them this summer, but it will be different, obviously, because I won't be working toward the same goals they are anymore.

What are the best and worst things about being a collegiate student-athlete?
The worst is that it's a huge demand on your time. You're not a typical college student. Your college friends will be going out, and you'll have to stay home because you either have homework or need to go to bed early because you have practice the next morning. So it's a huge strain on your time, which is tough.

But it's definitely worth it, because the best part is you have this family of girls who you work hard with and respect. You're all working toward something that everyone wants to achieve, and it's really neat to have the opportunity to do that with such great people. You get to experience a lot of things others don't. That's why we all do it and we have fun doing it.

Interview conducted by Gball Editor Shelly Wilson.


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