February 5, 2011

It's the point of the game when fans start packing up their belongings, a time when the outcome is officially no longer in doubt.

In basketball they generally call it "garbage time," but to Kristen Dick, those moments are precious.

"I don't get to play much this year," said the James Wood High School senior, who has appeared in just six of the Colonels' 20 games this season. "I'm going to make those few minutes count when I'm in there."

Many teams have players like Dick, whose contributions are more meaningful on the practice court than fans could ever know from just watching the games.

But Dick's life has included an obstacle far more cumbersome than struggling to get off the end of the bench.

For the past seven years, Dick has suffered from epilepsy, a brain disorder involving repeated, spontaneous seizures.

She's had seizures at practice and in school - 17 major seizures this year alone, some of which last as long as 45 minutes. But she hasn't missed a day of class this year and rarely misses practice.

"I'm not going to let something like that get to me," Dick said this week, noting that she's never considered quitting basketball because of her condition. "I don't let it get in my way. I want to have good grades. I want to be good at basketball."
Dick - who has played since her 7th grade year at Frederick County Middle School - has never been a star.

And that's why she especially looks forward to Tuesday's Senior Night at James Wood, when she'll make her first career start against Handley.

It's tradition for the Colonels to start their seniors in the final regular season home game of their career, and it's unlikely that any of the four will appreciate the moment more than Dick.

Dick - whose sister Whitney is a freshman on this year's team - understands that her role is meaningful, even though she's attempted just two shots all season.

But what she may not realize is how much her spirit has affected her teammates.

"She never gives up," said Colonels coach Rhonda Slider, who coached Dick each of the past four years. "She's a fighter, and she's a trooper.

"She's still always working hard, and it's kind of a message to [her teammates] that, here we are, we need to do that as well. That's a positive that she's brought to our team."

Dick has also used her experience with epilepsy to teach her schoolmates about the disorder, which afflicts more than 50 million people worldwide.

She was sitting in her neurologist's office last year when she read that November was Epilepsy Awareness Month. Purple is the official color of the cause, so she had purple ribbons made, and she and a few friends got purple hair extensions.

"People just really don't know what it's like sometimes for other peoples' lives," said Dick, who isn't the least bit shy about talking about her condition. "It's just hard some times. It's scary. I've had two [seizures] at school, and that's so embarrassing. But I don't want people to be afraid of me."

Dick said she's been prescribed numerous medications, and she's scheduled to get checked out at the University of Virginia in April to see if she's a candidate for a corrective brain surgery.

She wants to get that part of her life in order so she can focus on more important things - like attending Shepherd University, where she plans to major in English and minor in journalism next year.

Dick hopes to one day write for a magazine or newspaper, covering either sports or music.

With the Colonels winless in the Northwestern District and Dick having only seen limited minutes, it would be easy to say that it hasn't been a storybook senior season.

But Dick doesn't look at it that way. She's got nine teammates she thinks the world of, and she can't wait to write her own ending to her story in whatever minutes she plays Tuesday night.

"I want to get in there and do something to remember," she said. "And I want to make sure that, at the end of the season, we're all just happy with what we accomplished."

- David Selig is sports editor
at The Winchester Star