By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
As soon as Washburn University completes its 2022 volleyball season, Ichabod 6-foot redshirt freshman hitter Austin Broadie will switch gears and join the WU women's basketball team.
Washburn redshirt freshman Austin Broadie spikes the ball in a volleyball match earlier this season for the 20-6 Ichabods. [File photo/TSN]
Former Wichita Trinity standout Austin Broadie is a two-sport athlete in basketball and volleyball for Washburn University. [Photo courtesy of Washburn Athletics]
But the two-sport athlete is in no hurry.
"Hopefully we go all the way in volleyball, but once volleyball stops then I'll start up with basketball,'' said Broadie, who is doubling up for the second straight year.
Broadie said that both first-year WU women's basketball coach Lora Westling and veteran Ichabod volleyball coach Chris Herron have been supportive of her desire to play both sports.
"I was a little worried about it this year since it was a new basketball coach, but (coach Westling) came in and she was willing to work with me and (coach Herron) has been cool with it.''
In fact, the opportunity to be a two-sport athlete is what cemented Broadie's decision to attend Washburn.
"A majority of it was being able to play both sports,'' said Broadie, a former multi-sport standout at Wichita Trinity Academy. "Coach (Ron McHenry's) daughters (Dani and Sami) played both for them so (Washburn) had a good understanding and experience with that because they had done it before.
"The facilities here are great, the coaches are great, but it was mainly the coaches and how they dealt with a player doing both sports that made me pick Washburn.''
Broadie redshirted in 2021 in volleyball and saw action in six games for the Ichabod basketball team in 2021-2022, scoring two points and grabbing two rebounds.
Broadie has become a major contributor this fall for the 20-6 WU volleyball team, seeing action in all 26 matches with nine starts while ranking fourth on the team in kills (161) and total blocks (47).
Broadie has been relatively happy with her play this season, but knows there's still plenty of room for improvement.
"Sometimes it goes really well and sometimes it doesn't go quite as well,'' Broadie said. "I definitely have a lot to learn on the rightside and I'm not quite consistent yet. I would like to be more consistent with how it's going.''
Obviously, Broadie's focus has been on volleyball this fall, but she's tried to do some preliminary work to get ready for basketball season.
"I gave myself a break of doing just volleyball and not doing any basketball and then when October started, I was like, 'I'm going to start running and start shooting a little bit,' '' she said.
Broadie said she doesn't really have a favorite between her two sports.
"I do not,'' Broadie said. "Honestly, I think my favorite is the one that I'm in at the time. I can't pick between them and it's nice to be able to switch them up.''
And Broadie said she's made progress in how to handle her double duty.
"Last year was defiitely tough doing both practices every day, but honesly that probably made this year easier because that was so tough,'' she said. "This year has been a lot better and I am definitely still ready to keep playing both.''
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