by KEITH HEJNA
GoPSUsports.com
ast season Amanda Brown ranked in the Top 10 in the Big Ten Conference in scoring, blocks, field goal percentage and rebounds en route to earning second team All-Big Ten honors. She was also named to the Academic All-Big Ten team and was selected as the team MVP. What else can a collegiate basketball player do after she has accomplished so much? According to Penn State??s senior captain, she can only improve.
Brown has spent the past three summers training and playing with the Canada Senior National team. While getting the opportunity to travel around the world and represent her home country, she also got to learn from some of the best women??s basketball players on the planet.
??Going down to the [FIBA] World Games in Brazil and playing against the best players in the whole world was just an awesome experience. I played against players who are 6-7, 200 and some pounds; so you learn to be a lot stronger, especially in the post,?? said Brown. ??You??re playing against players in their late 20s and 30s who have so much experience. By watching them and playing against them, you learn a lot about the game and how you can be smarter than your opponent.??
Some of Brown??s teammates and opponents have been playing international events for over a decade. Some are even in the WNBA, a league that Amanda could find herself in next year, unless she decides to go straight to medical school.
??As long as my body holds up, I think I??d like to continue playing basketball, whether it is the WNBA if that opportunity comes up or if it is playing professionally overseas. I wouldn??t mind doing that. I still have my goal of going to medical school and doing that piece but I think I may hold off on that and keep playing while I still can.??
Presently, Brown is doing all that she can to take the knowledge she acquired from playing at a higher level of competition in Brazil and carrying it over into the 2006-07 Lady Lions?? season.
Brown has competed with players of all ages, each with a different style of play. In learning to adapt to the players around her, she feels that she has acquired the skills necessary to serve as the adhesive on this year??s Lady Lions squad.
As a senior and team co-captain, she has the opportunity and obligation to use her skills and wisdom to improve the play of her teammates. Having already played the role of captain for a year, Brown has improved on one of the more important aspects of her game: her leadership skills.
??You have to really make your team want to follow you and really make them trust your decisions and respect you?? I think that??s the biggest thing.??
Brown led by example last year, but says that she is much more vocal this season. ??Leading on the court and off the court, I really have to be a vocal leader, saying the right things at the right times.??
The Lady Lions literally look up to their captain. Standing 6-4, she is the tallest player on the team.
Brown??s height has always worked in her favor in basketball, from being able to bang around under the boards with the Big Ten??s finest, to getting her started in the sport while she lived in Canada.
??I was in third grade and my gym teacher was like, ??Hey look, you??re tall; we have this rec league. Why don??t you join and start playing?????
The rest is history.
With one season to go, Brown has already etched her name in Penn State??s history books, ranking in the top five in career blocks and fourth (.599) and fifth (.593) in season field goal percentage in her sophomore and junior seasons.
So what is her trick?
??I??m not all that superstitious. I lace up my shoes and go out and play.??
The secret ingredient to Amanda Brown??s well-rounded game, which comes equipped with leadership ability, intelligence, and poise, is good old-fashioned hard work and practice.