Heavy lies the crown at Kickapoo. As the Lady Chiefs attempt to return to the state Final Four for an unprecedented third straight year, they’ll do so without two All-State players. But there was another. And with only two returners from last year, Hannah Gardner is just what head coach Marci Adams needs to set up her team for another successful run.
“I think she likes it,” said Adams. “She is the type of kid who loves to take control and loves to be a leader.”
Hannah is the team’s all-everything setter and is committed to play at Missouri State next year. Leading this young wave should be no problem. She’s already leading the whole school as student body president. And she’s ready to keep Kickapoo great.
“My platform is I have fun,” said Gardner, a senior on the team. “And I’ll have more fun being president.”
Her style has her teammates saying I’m with her. “She’s a very ‘get it done’ kind of person,” said Hannah Williams, a senior on the team. “And I think that people are just naturally drawn to that. Most people just kind of want to sit around and have it done for them. But she’s gonna do it.”
And she’d never ask her teammates to do something she herself wouldn’t do. Which is why she’s also started her own video series. She calls it HGTV. Where the team’s second leading kills, blocks, and assists queen tries her hand at every other sport at Kickapoo.
“She’s goofy, she’s smart.” Adams said. “She’s goofy. Did I mention that?”
When it comes to making decisions on the court and making decisions for the whole school there’s one that’s clearly easier for Hannah. “Definitely on the court because I don’t care about other people’s feelings,” Gardner said. “And as president a lot of other people’s feelings are involved. I’m picking for the student body.”
Which is why her coach has picked her as the team captain who leads with her actions not just her words.
