IN THE MIDDLE

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For The Tribune

Anne Franke has spent a lot of time in the Bollinger Athletic Complex the past four years at Trinity Lutheran.

She is in the middle of the action in both of her sports, playing middle hitter in volleyball and the post in basketball.

Franke said she likes the strategy and teamwork it takes to be successful in both sports. She has helped Trinity win sectionals in both sports.

“I post up, or sometimes I’m setting screens so the guards can get open, or they get me the ball and I throw it opposite,” she said of her basketball duties.

Franke said when she is on the floor with Abby Hackman, she runs a different offensive set.

“If I’m in there by myself I run a triangle around the top of the key and the two blocks,” Franke siad. “If I’m in there with Abby, she has one side of the lane and I have the other.”

Offensively, Franke prefers to shoot layups or short jumpers.

“I’m right-handed so I really prefer the right side of the lane,” Franke said. “That’s my strong side. If they play in front of me sometimes I can hold them off and get a high-low kind of a pass.

“If I play in front I have to do a move on them. I would rather play against a man defense because sometimes we set screens and then I have a mismatch where I’m playing against a smaller player.”

The Cougars have won four straight, and Franke said, “We’re on a good run. We’ve scored a lot of points (in recent games), and beat the record (against South Decatur). We’ve got to keep the momentum going. If we get down a couple points we’ve got to keep our heads and remember that’s OK and stick together and come out of it and shut them down.”

She said she feels like the schedule has prepared the Cougars for the sectional.

“We’re playing tougher teams than we might in our sectional, and that gets up prepared for higher caliber teams,” Franke said.

Franke was a two-year varsity starter in volleyball.

In matches, Franke had to continually change her attacking to hitting around blockers, over blockers for tips.

She also said one of the things she had to do a lot was work on her timing when it came to blocking strong hitters on opposing teams.

“Timing was hard,” Franke said. “We would have to talk about ‘down up,’ to make sure we were on time so we had the best blocks.”

Franke said you have to be mentally and physically prepared for every contest.

“I would say sports are 80 percent mental,” she said. “In volleyball, one of the main things we said, ‘don’t let the point have babies,’ like don’t let one ball get you down and lose the point after that and the point after that.

“Coach (Mike Lang) always says in basketball, ‘have amnesia.’ If you miss a shot and you don’t get the rebound, you’ve got to forget about it. That play is over. Work on the next play and you have to know the ball’s going in when you shoot.”

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Name: Anne Franke

Parents: Joe and Sandy Franke

Sibling: Alex, Emma

Sports: Basketball, four years; volleyball, four years

Athletic highlights: Volleyball: winning Edinburgh tournament 2 years, winning Cougar Cup 4 years, winning 2012 sectional; basketball: won 20013, 2014 sectionals.

Organizations: National Honor Society, student ambassador, Future Farmers of America, choir, dance committee, euchre club, handbells

Plans after high school: Attend Purdue University to become a veterinarian

Favorite food: Cinnamon rolls and enchilada casserole

Favorite TV show: “Boy Meets World”

Favorite movie: “10 Things I Hate About You”

Favorite team: Penn State volleyball

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Q: Where are some of your favorite away gyms?

A: “I do like the sunken gyms. Orleans is probably one of my favorites. That’s because I’m used to it because we’ve been playing the sectionals there for four year for both sports. I’m familiar with the locker rooms. Edinburgh has a sunken gym and we played volleyball there over the summer.”

Q: What is one of the most memorable experiences in volleyball?

“My junior year when we beat Silver Creek. I remember they were good and we beat them. We were so excited in the locker room.””

Q: What’s it like attending Trinity Lutheran?

A:  “I really like how it’s small, so I know everyone on a personal level. There’s no clicks. Everyone in my classes is my friend.

“I might not remember playing the sports so much. I’ll remember all the fun we’ve had as a team. For basketball, we have a Christmas party every year; for volleyball we always do team bonding at the lake. I think it will be a lot of fun just remembering all the time we’ve spent together.”

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