Cedars, February 2019

February 2019 15 SPORTS Annie Kaster: Mitts and Medicine by Shelby McGuire A nnie Kaster made a difficult choice two and a half years ago when choosing to come to Cedarville. She was a dedicated AAA-level hockey player in love with her sport, but also pas- sionate about medicine. She wanted to continue her hockey ca- reer at the college level, and she had many opportunities to do so. But her desire to pursue a degree in the medical field tugged at her heart just a little harder. Kaster, a junior chemistry pre-med ma- jor, left her hockey bag behind at her home in White Lake, Michigan during her first year at Cedarville. In the fall of 2016, Kaster registered for classes and moved into Johnson Hall. Al- though she had given up her hockey dream, she hadn’t given up the valuable life lessons that the sport had taught her. Rebekah Jamison, Kaster’s RA, said she became an influential team player in the hall, building relationships and proving herself to be a confident leader. Kaster said hockey taught her how to be a team player and to use her strengths and weaknesses ef- fectively. She committed herself to academics us- ing the dedication and hard work that she had learned in the hockey rink. She start- ed out as a nursing major but eventually to switched to chemistry pre-med. Hockey has been a major part of Kaster’s life for almost as long as she can remember. She first ventured out on the ice in figure skates at the age of 3. At 12, she traded in her figure skates for a pair of hockey skates to be just like her older brother. At the end of her first season, she re- alized her connection with hockey went deeper than just wanting to be like her older brother. It was the playoff game against the team that had been their un- matched rivals. The score was 2-0 and with almost no time left on the clock, Kaster got a break away and scored a goal. Although her team didn’t win, it felt like a victory to put up a fight against the top team in the league. At age 14 when Kaster and her team played in the national tournament in Texas where they fought their way to third in the nation. Hockey also taught her physical tough- ness. She learned to push through the pain of a few sprained ankles and two concus- sions during her hockey career. She said that hockey taught her how to conduct her- self with balance and strength. Although Kaster was confident in her choice to give up her hockey dream and pur- sue medicine at Cedarville, she still missed it. Any chance she got, she was on the ice playing hockey with friends on weekends and breaks. During her sophomore year at Cedar- ville, she was excited to learn about an op- portunity to bring her hockey bag to Cedar- ville and play for the student-organized club hockey team. The team plays every Sunday night at a local rink against other club teams. Kaster said that it has been a different experience playing at Cedarville than teams she has been on in the past. Currently, Kaster is the only woman on the team — and in the league. She said this is sometimes intimidating as it often draws attention from other teams in the league, but the guys on her team stand up for her when she is called out or made fun of on the ice. Now that she’s the only woman on the team, Kaster sometimes misses some of the team bonding time from her past experi- ence on a travel team. “It’s hard to get pumped for a game jamming to music in the locker room by yourself,” she said. She has enjoyed the freedom of being on a less structured team with the ability to show off and try new tricks during a game without getting benched for it. Kaster may have given up a career in hockey when she chose to pursue medicine at Cedarville, but she did not give up her love for the sport that means so much to her and her childhood. As she continues her education at Cedarville, she is look- ing into several career paths in the med- ical field while still spending weekly time shooting pucks at a local hockey rink with her new team. Shelby McGuire is a sophomore journal- ism major and Campus News Co-editor for Cedars. She enjoys working out as well as feeding her caffeine addiction pretending that she has her life together. Photo by Kelsey Feuerhak Annie Kaster is the vice president of the hockey org and the only female on the team.