Size is not an issue for shortest player
Bv Jennifer Yeoman
Special to the Kansan
Height isn't everything — at least not according to point guard Erinn Reed. At 5 feet 4 inches, Reed is the shortest member on the Kansas women's basketball team.
But being relatively short has its advantages, the Saginaw, Mich., junior said.
As the shortest member of the team she is able to see under and around other players, she said. Her height also puts her closer to the ground, giving her better control of the ball and more speed.
"You can't get caught up thinking about it," Reed said. "There are disadvantages to being tall as well. You just have to know how to play smart."
Playing smart is what Reed learned from her father, Norwaine Reed, a retired high school basketball coach.
"Size in basketball is not a concern," Norwaine Reed said. "If you do the things you are capable of and if you play smart, you'll have no problems or concerns."
Norwaine Reed said that size was especially irrelevant in women's basketball because the height differences were not as great as they are in men's.
Erinn Reed said that being short had advantages for her off the basketball court as well.
"I wondered if she might be too short for basketball,but Erinn never worried."
Ceciel Reed
Erinn Reed's mother
"I've never wanted to be tall," she said. "I love to shop, and it would be harder to buy clothes if I were tall."
But Reed admits there are some problems associated with being shorter — other than the obvious disadvantage of not being able to shoot over taller players.
"Sometimes I'm not taken very seriously," Reed said. "Our society is predicated on size. You just have to be strong enough to let it go in one ear and out the other."
Reed began to be more interested in basketball than other sports by the time she was in middle school.
"We tried to expose her to many
different things as a child," said Ceciel Reed, her mother. "We tried not to push her towards basketball."
But it must have been natural for Erinn, Ceciel said, having watched her father.
Erinn Reed spent a lot of time practicing with her father's boys basketball team. She said it helped her learn how to play with taller players and with different types of players.
"I grew up playing around boys," Reed said, "because until junior high nobody else was really interested."
Not only is Reed following in her father's footsteps, she is following in her mother's as well. She is majoring in education and hopes to be an elementary school teacher. Her mother is a teacher.
"Ihope Ihave been some kind of an influence," Ceciel Reed said. "I think teaching is an admirable and respectable field."
Ceciel Reed said that when her daughter was growing up, Ceciel had thought that Erinn would be taller. Her father is 6 feet 1 inch tall and her mother is 5 feet 4 inches.
"She grew so fast as a child, but she stopped growing," Ceci el Reed said. "I wondered if she might be too short for basketball, but Erinn never worried."
Geoff Krieger / KANSAN
Erinn Reed, Kansas junior guard, works out with the Jayhawks at Allen Field House.
November 19, 1996 The Hill 08111SHEDMOUTH KILLIN
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