Bowling Green State University Athletics
Getting to Know Floor General, Kate Achter
February 18, 2008 | Women's Basketball
Feb. 18, 2008
BY NATE PARSONS, BGSU Athletic Communications - Kate-O-Potato is the Guitar Hero-playin', Smashing Pumpkins-lovin', 5-7 leader of the Bowling Green State University women's basketball team that went to the Sweet Sixteen last season. You know her on-the-court personality and all of the accolades she garners, but did you know she's met Tiger Woods, wanted to be a forensic scientist and would love to have dinner with Lance Armstrong? Read on to find out more about BG's point guard Kate Achter.
Basketball Has and Always Will Be a Part of Her Life
Achter started playing basketball at a very young age. Her father and grandfather were both coaches, so it was pretty much inevitable that she would one day pick up the game.
"I was always around a gym," she said.
Achter started playing organized basketball when she was seven or eight, and she played with kids who were three to four years older than her.
Having relatives as coaches and playing with the older kids proved to be beneficial as she received many Player of the Year honors after her senior year at Oregon Clay High School in Toledo. She also became the school's all-time leading scorer, male or female, with 1,564 points.
Luckily for BG fans, UT didn't offer her a scholarship. Achter has since led the Falcons to back-to-back-to-back Mid-American Conference regular-season titles and Tournament championships along with a Sweet Sixteen birth in the NCAA Tournament.
"I have a very unique game, so I try not to really model it after anyone else," she said, when asked which basketball player she thought best resembled how she plays. "I like to dish and drive, so I guess in some aspects I could see like a Steve Nash because I like to pass a lot."
Nash is a good comparison because, like Nash, Achter is a point guard through-and-through.
"An assist is way better than two points for me," she said. "To get everyone involved is my job."
Achter has done her job well as she is the only BG women's basketball player to score 1,400-plus points and record over 600 assists.
Not Only a Basketball Player, but a Golfer and a Rock Star
"In the summertime, I play a lot of golf," Achter said. "I'm a big time golfer."
She's a big time golfer indeed. In high school she was a four-time all-district first-team golfer and was so good that she got to receive a private lesson from PGA golfer Tiger Woods.
"I've met Tiger Woods," she said, when asked who her favorite golfer was. "He was up at Detroit for the Buick Invitational, so he put on a little clinic. They took the best junior golfers from the Toledo area when I was in 7th grade, and they got special lessons with him."
When Achter isn't receiving private lessons from the greatest golfer ever, she is rocking out with Guitar Hero.
"I'm a big fan of Guitar Hero," she said. "We play it a lot at our house."
Achter, along with the other upperclassmen, actually used Guitar Hero as a team building exercise to help get the freshman more comfortable.
"At the beginning of the year, we (upperclassmen) were having some difficulties getting our freshman involved," Achter said. "They (freshman) were all still kind of timid ...
"We recorded this 15 minute video of us just screwing around and dancing," Achter said. "It was a pretty good time and a great team bonding exercise."
Not Just an Athlete, but a Student-Athlete
What does a point guard who led her team to back-to-back-to-back MAC regular season titles and MAC Tournament championships major in? Well, sports, of course, but not at first.
"When I came in to college, I originally wanted to be a forensic scientist," Achter said. "But, things change, your interests change, and there's no way I can deny my love for sports."
"This (sports) is what I've been doing my whole life. I think that's the field I'm best suited in."
She wants to work in facility operations at the collegiate level, but if a coaching job comes around, you'll be more likely to see her on the sidelines because, according to her, "that's where my heart is."
Since Achter loves sports, it's no surprise her favorite class was Sociology of Sport.
"I really enjoyed that because not only did it look at what sport is now, but it also looked at how kids take certain roles in sport, how you develop your sport identities and what teams you root for," she said. "It's always interesting to look at the stuff behind the sport because it is always overlooked."
Dinner for Two...on a Tandem Bike
If you could have dinner with any athlete, past or present, who would it be?
Achter would love to have dinner with cyclist Lance Armstrong, who overcame testicular cancer to win the most prestigious cycling event, the Tour de France, seven consecutive times.
"I would like to know what went through his head when he was going through the most difficult times in his life and how he was able to put that aside and focus on his sport," Achter said.
Achter knows how hard it can be to juggle schoolwork, social obligations and basketball. "As an athlete, I know there are a lot of things other student-athletes deal with: class, social issues," she said. "A lot of times that's not always easy."
Achter is amazed at how Armstrong could overcome such odds to be so great.
"He was able to be one of the greatest athletes in history," she said. "It's incredible how mentally strong he had to be."
She Isn't a Buckeye, but She Likes the Jayhawks and Loves the Falcons
While most Ohio-native BG students grew-up rooting for the Ohio State Buckeyes, Achter's not a big fan.
"Never have been," she said, when asked if she was a fan of OSU. "I've never really gotten into it."
Achter's love is the Kansas Jayhawks (after her love for the Falcons, of course).
"I'm a Jayhawk," she said.
Achter's love for the Jayhawks began when Kirk Hinrich was point guard with the basketball team in the early-`00s. However, she has a new man now - Brandon Rush, who is the leader of the current 23-2 squad.
Achter also enjoys watching Duke basketball and all the great women's collegiate teams like Stanford and Maryland.
"There are a lot of programs on the women's side that I look up to because of the things they've accomplished," she said. "I know what it's like to be in that situation."
Memories and Life After Basketball
The awards, titles and Sweet Sixteen birth won't be remembered as much as the "sisters" Achter has made since stepping on to BG's campus.
"I'm going to remember the family I developed here," she said. "The girls I played with over the past three years and the girls I play with now are like sisters to me.
"We joke around and say we're going to be aunts to each other's kids."
"Twenty-five years from now, I'm going to remember all the fun moments we had," Achter said.
Hopefully, more "sisters" can be added to her family as Achter hopes to continue her basketball-playing days after her collegiate career is over.
"Oh! I would love to," she said with a big smile, when asked about playing for the Women's National Basketball Association. "If they would take me, I would go. I would even sit on the bench."
While Achter doesn't know if she's ready to deal with the fact that her basketball career will come to an end in March, maybe she'll get lucky and be able to play in the WNBA - even if she is just sitting on the bench.
