Kolhof finds stability in basketball

photo by Amy Babin

Julie Kolhof, senior business administration major, transferred from Butte College in Oroville two years ago to play basketball for the University of La Verne.

by Antonette Manabat
Staff Writer

The teacher stood in front of the class to explain the autobiography assignment. He wanted to get the class to start thinking of some ideas to talk about.

He asked the class a simple question; who has moved more than four times? Ten of the 30 people in the class raised their hands. How about more than five times? Five people lowered their arms. Who's moved more than seven times? Four people put their arms down.

One hand was still raised. The teacher looked at the student and asked, more than 10 times? The hand was still up.

"Well how many times have you moved?," the teacher asked.

The student slowly put down her arm.

"A lot," she said.

The student is Julie Kolhof, a 22-year-old senior at the University of La Verne, who is ready to accomplish something nobody in her family has been able to do: graduate from college.

One of the star basketball players for ULV, Kolhof's biography cannot be answered in simple questions.

It was never an easy road for her.

Kolhof has lived in 12 different states and has moved a total of 64 times.

There has been only one constant thing in her life ­ one thing that she knows has been and will always be there for her: basketball.

"Sports were the only sense of home I had, it is the only thing in my life I can count on to always be there," Kolhof said.

Participating in sports replaced the lack of structure and discipline in Kolhof's home, and it saved her from her legacy of inevitable hardships and negativity.

Kolhof's mom became pregnant with her first child at 17. Kolhof has an older sister, Christie, who is 26 and an older brother, Brian, who is 23. She also has a twin sister, Janice, who plays basketball for Cal State Hayward.

"The hardest part about my childhood was not having a constant father figure around," Kolhof said.

Moving continually made Kolhof's life unstable. She was often confused as her family left many potential father figures, who Kolhof hoped would change their lives, she said.

Kolhof's life finally did change for the better when her mom married Dewey Travis. He was the first positive influence in her life. Travis introduced sports to Kolhof and her siblings.

She was in fifth grade when Travis suggested Janice and Julie try Little League baseball and basketball.

Travis wanted them to do something productive. That's how he was raised. Kolhof immediately discovered the benefits of being involved in a sport; it was a different life for Kolhof and her twin.

"It was weird," Kolhof said. "It was like, even though our life wasn't stable, sports made it feel like it was, like we were normal kids."

Travis put Brian in Karate because of his aggressive behavior and attention deficit disorder, but Brian did not stick with it. He has been in trouble with the law since he was in fourth grade.

Christie was at a rebellious stage when Travis came along and she did not take to the extra curricular activities. She really did not have time to get into sports anyway, because she had to take care of Kolhof and her twin.

"My oldest sister was pregnant at 17," Kolhof said. "She always used to say she didn't want to end up like our mom, but she ended up just like her."

"I think Janice and I stuck with sports and the positive influences it gave us because we were introduced to it at such a young age," she said.

Unfortunately, the sense of stability and permanence that came with Travis, like so many things in Kolhof's young life, proved to be temporary. As she had done many times before, Kolhof's mom woke all the kids up in the middle of the night and told them to pack their bags; Kolhof was 13. Her mom gave no reason.

They left Travis, but this time, Kolhof and her twin refused to leave behind the lessons of life and the passion for sports learned from their step-dad.

Kolhof learned to stop making excuses, and she was able to use the tragedies in her life as building blocks, she said.

The summer before Kolhof's senior year of high school, her mom wanted to pack up and leave again. She wanted to leave the state.

Kolhof and her twin wanted to finish their last year with their softball and basketball teams. Their mom gave them an ultimatum. She would leave with or without them.

Kolhof's mom left that year, and the girls jumped from house to house, sleeping in extra rooms.

"During basketball season we lived with different basketball teammates, and during softball season we lived with different softball teammates," Kolhof said. "That summer was the last time we ever lived with our mom."

Kolhof and her twin were the first in their family to graduate from high school, and she said it was her happiest moment. After graduating, Kolhof played two years of basketball with her twin at Butte College in Oroville, but they went their separate ways after their sophomore year with the decision to transfer to different schools.

"Our Butte coach felt that we shouldn't play together anymore because we needed a chance to grow as individuals," Kolhof said. "It was a hard transition because I'm so used to Janice always being there."

Coming to ULV to play basketball marked Kolhof's first time away from her twin.

"My first year was hard because I didn't know what to expect, and I felt that no one knew where I was coming from," Kolhof said.

At the end of her junior year here, she came close to packing up and leaving to reunite with her twin and to play basketball at Cal State Hayward. But that would have been a decision to remain in Janice's shadow, the way it was when they were growing up. Kolhof decided she needed to play on her own.

"Overall I really liked the coach and the people at ULV, and I felt that I could've had a better experience here by opening up and giving it a second chance," Kolhof said.

Kolhof not only had a better experience, she found a place on the team that allowed her to be the hard-working leader that she knew she could be.

"This year Julie really stepped it up; her work ethic really helped the team succeed, and I'm not the only one who appreciates her desire to win," said teammate Audy Macdonald.

"This year I came out of my shell, and I felt more comfortable with my teammates. I was able to play an important role in our team's success," Kolhof said.

The ULV women's basketball team became Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference champions this year.

Kolhof scored 14 points for her team on the final conference game against Redlands. She shot four out of eight three-pointers, which summarizes her threat behind the arc this season.

Not only has Kolhof shown her teammates that she can shoot, she has made a name for herself around the league. She is ranked No. 1 in SCIAC for three-pointers.

Although that is a great accomplishment, Kolhof is more excited about winning conference her senior year.

"It shows that good things happen from hard work. I went through so many obstacles, and it makes the victory that much sweeter," Kolhof said.

She credits her hard work and determination to playing basketball.

Playing enabled her to surround herself with positive influences, she said.

"Basketball showed me how good life could be. I saw that people did have good healthy lives, and I wanted that for myself," Kolhof said.

When Kolhof looks back, it is softball and basketball she remembers as her parents. Sports cared; sports embraced; sports congratulated and sports wanted her to be better. Her coaches were the biggest influences in her life, she said.

"Coaches became parent figures for me; they gave me the confidence to go on, and I talked to them not just about sports, but about life in general," Kolhof said.

Kolhof understands the effect basketball has had in her life. She said that if she did not get into the sport, she probably would not be in college. She feels that "everything happens for a reason."

"I really don't regret anything that's happened to me because it's made me stronger; I never take things for granted," Kolhof said. "I think what sports really taught me was that if things were just given to us easily then what would we work for."

"Overcoming obstacles are how we achieve things in sports and in life," she said.