SMITHVILLE — Mention Jaimie Kadlecek’s knee pads around the Smithville girls basketball team and you might get a few chuckles.
“Man, those things stink,” said head coach Robin Ramsay. “I have tried every year to get rid of those things, but she won’t let me. It must be a superstition thing.”
All kidding aside, Kadlecek’s knee pads are just an indication of her scrappy style of play.
The black covering on the front of the pads is wearing so thing there is nothing but a white circle.
They are, by all accounts, probably the most worn out knee pads on the team.
Kadlecek said she has had those knee pads for three years and don’t plan on getting new ones.
“I think it looks pretty cool,” she said.
As Ramsay points out, it shows how hard Kadlecek plays on the basketball court.
“She’s a very scrappy player who is not afraid to get physical,” Ramsay said. “She grew up a lot this season and started to use her scrappiness to lead our team.”
Kadlecek emerged as the leader of the Lady Tigers this season, leading the team in scoring in 18 games.
That’s a contrast to last year where Kadlecek and Blakelee Saunders shared leading in scoring.
“Your point guard is like your quarterback and Jaimie was our quarterback this year,” Ramsay said. “She is a quiet kid and doesn’t really like to tell other what to do, but she leads by example and she got better as the season went along.”
Kadlecek was the leading scorer in Bastrop County, averaging 11.4 points per game. She also led the county in steals with 110, which was 37 more than Bastrop’s Chelsea Moore, who was second.
She was second in assists with 104 behind Tiffany Wong, but was one of two guards in Bastrop County to average four rebounds per game or more.
Smithville will only graduate one starter and will return the core of a team that won it’s first playoff game since 2007.
That has Kadlecek really confident with her senior season ahead of her, despite going into a district with four other playoff teams.
“We have a lot of energy going into next season,” she said. “I think all of us are going to get stronger and be more determined.”
Kadlecek hasn’t made a decision on college, but said she does want to continue to play basketball.
“I am going to go wherever God leads me,” she said.
Whether Ramsay lets her get out of Smithville with her knee pads, however, remains to be seen.