- 5/19/2013 Shepard designs dream room
- 5/19/2013 Sue Jolly Award will honor student Mock Trial Team member
- 5/19/2013 Anglican Church to host homeless meeting
- 5/19/2013 North Augusta bookings
- 5/19/2013 Suspect sought in theft of Walmart cell phones
- 5/19/2013 STEMfest exposes students to principles of science, technology
- 5/19/2013 North Augusta crime blotter
- 5/19/2013 North Augusta High School hosts 309 student runners
- 5/19/2013 Predators fall to Knights in walk-off fashion
- 5/12/2013 Predators stumble against Knights, face uphill battle
- 5/12/2013 Lady Predators have to win to stay in
- 5/12/2013 Phil Schaefer reflects on North Augusta history
- 5/12/2013 North Augusta golf team’s season ends in Sumter
- 5/12/2013 NAHS grad named SEC Men’s Golf Freshman of the Year
- 5/12/2013 World’s No. 1 disc golfer pays a visit to Hippodrome
- 5/19/2013 Column: Downtown developments: Vacations less and less important
- 5/19/2013 Wrinkles: Recognizing mothers and angels
- 5/19/2013 Phragments from Phyllis: A mother’s a mother for the rest of her life
- 5/19/2013 Letter: Bring the troops home from Afghanistan
- 5/19/2013 Column: New PASS exams intended to benefit student performance
- 5/19/2013 Chaplain's corner: In his hand
- 5/12/2013 Column: The best of both borders
- 5/12/2013 Chaplain’s Corner: A mother’s joy
- 5/12/2013 Downtown developments: Bad customer service, part two
- 5/12/2013 Letter: Riverkeeper is a benefit to North Augustans
Fox Creek basketball player, boxer balances two sports
Keiana Green, a junior at Fox Creek High School, launches 3-pointers and can also knock an opponent flat with a right hook, but she is managing to keep her two favorite sports separate, possibly to her opponents' relief.
The 16-year-old right-hander has boxing as her other sport of choice, which sometimes makes for a challenging situation during basketball season. Augusta Boxing Club is her hangout for "the sweet science."
"I do basketball all week," she said, "and then I go to the gym on Saturday and Wednesday, because I don't have basketball on Wednesdays."
Green, whose parents are Karwarren and Katina Green, came up through Belvedere Elementary, Mossy Creek Elementary and Paul Knox Middle schools.
The 5-foot-3 junior now serves the Lady Predators as a shooting guard and is part of the squad that has qualified for a playoff bid for the first time in the history of Fox Creek's girls' basketball program. As a boxer, she is more familiar with success, sporting a 6-0 record.
The two sports balance well, she said, noting that "lining up for a 3-pointer usually relates to me throwing a 'two.'"
A "two," she said, is "a right straight-hand," in boxing.
She started basketball at age 4 and got into boxing one year later, after seeing boxer Leila Ali, a daughter of Muhammad Ali, in action, and asked her dad to sign her up.
"Basketball conditioning is way different from boxing, because ... boxing, I have to run miles and miles, but for basketball, I run sprints."
Her basketball coach these days is Richard Brady, at Fox Creek, and her boxing coaches are Tyrone Guy and Ray Whitfield.
Green impressed Guy as "a surprise," in Green's words. "She's a very tough, athletic young lady. She works very hard when she's in the gym, getting ready for a tournament. She's got a lot of character when she's in the ring. She turns into somebody else when she's out there."
Mixing the two sports, he said, helps stave off boredom that might arise from an exclusive focus on boxing. "She wants to be an Olympian some day, so that's her main focus."
Brady made similar comments and noted that Green has succeeded in balancing her practice schedules. On top of that, "She's always in shape. I'm sure the boxing helps with her conditioning," he said.
She is "a really hard-nosed, physical player," with the ability to work well near the hoop or farther out, he said.
Green's motto is "hard work and dedication," she said. "That's what I learned from my dad and my boxing coaches."
Notice about comments:
NOTE TO COMMENTERS: In mid-September, aikenstandard.com will use a different method for online commenting. A Facebook account will be required to comment on the site and current visitors will need to register for the new commenting platform.
If you have any questions, contact Melissa Hanna, multimedia development director, at mhanna@aikenstandard.com. We greatly appreciate your interaction on the site and apologize for any inconvenience.
Commenting rules: Do not post offensive, racial or violent messages. Responsibility for the statements posted lies with the commenter, not www.aikenstandard.com. Click 'report abuse' for any comments that you feel should be removed from the site. However, www.aikenstandard.com is not obligated to remove any comment posted on the site. Moderators do not have the ability to edit comments.
Full terms and conditions can be read here.