So You Want to Be a Coach

Talk to Kandee Hanzel at the beginning of the school year, and she’ll pull out her phone and tell you how many days until basketball practice starts.

Every year she counts down the days, and that’s after spending the summer traveling with her team in summer league games and weight training.

Asked what she loves about basketball, and she says, “Just the game — since I was little. When I was growing up we didn’t have summer camps or weight-lifting, a lot of that stuff was done on your own. You’d see me at the playground shooting baskets almost every day during the summer time, probably since I was 9. I remember a couple times my assistant coach would show up and rebound for me.”