'O Captain, My Captain'

Hadrick has the ball at the top of the key... She fakes left, drives right... A Brown defender tries to cut her off...gets there too late...bumps Hadrick on the hip... Hadrick keeps here eye on the basket and kisses the ball off the glass for the bucket and foul... The crowd erupts...

For Co-Captain Dina Hadrick, moments like this one last Saturday against the Bruins have been few and far between. The senior guard and two-time Crimson captain has waited for her moment, for her chance to establish herself as the player she knows she can be.

For Hadrick, it's not about ego, glory or publicity. It's about being an athlete, about playing the sport of basketball.

"All my life I've placed so much importance on basketball," Hadrick says. "There's going to be a huge gap in my life when it's over. I don't know how I'm going to fill it, but it's time to go on."

"It's almost time, anyway. With three games remaining, Hadrick's career, which reaily began when she first picked up a ball at age 11, is nearing an end. But it will be hard for Hadrick to get away from the game, especially at home.

Hoosiers

A New Jersey native, Hadrick moved to Indiana when she was 12, just in time to be indoctrinated with Hoosier hoops. In Indiana, basketball is not just a sport--it's a way of life. As a freshman, Hadrick's Crown Point High School team went to the state final. She played on the junior varsity squad that year.

Crown Point captured the state championship the following year, and Hadrick--after moving up from the JV squad midway through the season--was the first guard off the bench in what she calls one of her greatest memories--playing the championship game in front of 13,000 fans at Market Square Arena.

By her senior year, Hadrick was averaging twenty points per game, and although her team only made it to the regional finals, Hadrick was ranked in Indiana's Senior Top-40 and was invited to the Indiana All-Star Team tryouts. She was the only Crown Point player ever to receive this honor, though she did not make the team.

"At first, I had a lot of bitter feelings about it," Hadrick says. "I sort of took everyone by surprise. Basketball in Indiana is very politcal. If you weren't pushed as a freshman or sophomore, if you never got a lot of press, it was tough. I basically feel what I did in my senior year, I did on my own."

Upward Battle

Like many high school standouts, Hadrick was forced to start from the bottom after arriving at Harvard. The Crimson had posted a 21-5 record the previous season.

"When Dina came in, we had a strong senior class that had just come off an Ivy title," Delaney Smith says. "Dina is a two-guard. If I put you in as a two guard, you have to school, and Dina would not shoot."

The opportunity to shoot, however, was not always there, Hadrick points out. Although she received increased playing time during her sophomore season, it was classmates Beth Wambach, Jen Mazanee, and Heidi Kosh that stole the show.

Kosh was emerging as the next floor leader, Mazanee moved into the starting lineup at the forward position and Wambach averaged 9.3 points-per-game of the bench.

"Jen went from nothing to starting, and that was hard," Hadrick says. "I was jealous. I guess it wasn't my turn yet."

Things did not get any easier for Hadrick as a junior. One of the most talented group of first years ever to arrive on the Harvard basketball scene took more critical playing time from Hadrick's limited supply.

Erin Maher quickly established herself as one of the most potent three point shooters in the country, and Debbie Flandermeyer began to carve out what has become her permanent spot in the paint.

Hadrick did average 7.9 p.p.g. and dished out 50 assists in limited minutes, but she had not yet achieved the position that her classmates had, starting only three times all season.

"My confidence has been a huge problem for me all my life," Hadrick says." And it was hard not playing games. I would get angry when [Kathy] would tell me how excited she was about my potential. I would blame her, which is wrong, instead of looking within myself."

Team Leader

After two frustrating seasons on the court, however, her teammates named the rising junior as their captain, an honor they would bestow on Hadrick once again for her final campaign.

"I didn't understand why they chose me," Hadrick says. "How was I going to lead the team when I was not on the floor? I guess my definition of captain was sort of limited. It would have been easier to be a superstar and captain."

Hadrick may have doubted herself, but her teammates have never questioned her importance to the team.

"Dina's not always one to give herself credit," Mazanee says. "She doesn't always see what her commitment to this program means to us. It's the backbone of the team. She has put her personal playing time problem aside for the benefit of the team."

"She has had to play a lot of different roles at different times, and you never see her complaining," Kosh says. "It shows you what an amazing person she is."

Last Hurrah

After a dramatic 61-59 victory over Dartmouth to end last season, the mood on the team was upbeat, and Hadrick shared in the optimism. She embarked on an intense training program at the beginning of last summer, but a case of mononucleosis thwarted her efforts.

Hadrick says she still felt the effects of her illness during the early part of the season, and, to make matters worse, she pulled both quadricep muscles on the first official day of practice.

"For nine years I was pushing myself and I thought maybe it was time for it to be over," Hadrick says. "I thought 'Maybe God doesn't want me to be doing this right now.' Hard work is me, and I couldn't do it."

Hadrick still managed to get into the starting lineup for the first two games of the season, but Delaney Smith decided to shift the roster and Hadrick was relegated to bench duty once again.

Maher has continued to be a perimeter force off the bench, and junior guard Maura Healey, after a shaky start, has secured a starting role in Harvard's three-guard offense.

"[Kathy] says she never lost confidence in me, but I know she did. Why else wouldn't she play me? But I lost confidence in myself first."

Hadrick has clearly reacquired some of that confidence. Her timely shooting and stellar defense helped the Crimson secure a tie for the Ivy crown.

"She's known for her hustle and willingness to throw her body on the floor," Wambach says. "Her middle name is 'clutch.'"

And her performance last Saturday demonstrated that she is capable of playing with anyone.

"I think I could have taken on the world that night," Hadrick says. "It wasn't the end to a spectacular career--like Beth, Jen, or Heidi. But I love those people. They've touched my life. I wouldn't give this up for the world. I just wanted to win and be a part of it."

She was certainly a part of it--more, perhaps, then she even realizes.

"It kills me that I haven't been able to start her." Delaney Smith says. "Dina is the ultimate team player, and she has a great feel for the game. It doesn't show up in the stats, but people won't remember who scored the points. They'll remember the Dinas."