By Christopher Tremblay, Staff Sports Writer

Camryn Kinne is a two-sport athlete at Sutton High School participating in field hockey and basketball. Over her four-year career on two rosters with the Suzies she has made seven trips to the State Tournament compiling an overall record of 13-7 (10-4 with the field hockey team in four appearance and 3-3 with the basketball team over the last three seasons). 

During that time Kinne has seen the field hockey team go to the Final 4 the past two seasons, while the basketball team was a Final 4 participant two years ago. Last winter the hoop team, which was seeded eighth, was upset by the number 25 seed Hampshire Regional 40-39 in the first round. Kinne has also been on undefeated regular season teams with both sports. 

Although the Sutton field hockey team has been able to go deeper into the State Tournaments, it’s the sport of basketball Kinne loves the most. In fact, she has already committed to play basketball at Stevens Institute of Technology (SIT) in Hoboken, New Jersey, a Division 3 school that plays in the Middle Atlantic Conference. She plans to major in Business Marketing.

SIT was the first to offer the Sutton resident a scholarship; she continued talking to other schools but eventually decided that it was the best place for her.

“I did a lot of research and found that they were one of the best academic schools, not to mention they were successful on the basketball court,” Kinne said. “The school is well positioned to New York, where I want to be in life (in terms of internships and lots of job availability).”

Sutton girls basketball coach John Doldoorian doesn’t see any problem with Kinne playing on the collegiate level, especially with the senior’s outgoing personality. He also believes that she is a natural and would have been fine no matter where she choose to continue to play basketball.

While she has been playing both sports since a young age, it has always been basketball that held a place in her heart. Playing for the Sutton town recreational league, it was her father who not only got her into the sport, but was her coach for those early years.

“I just got used to him being the coach and was comfortable with him there. He was someone that I trusted,” she said. “As I got older, I knew that I needed to branch out, but he was super helpful with my career.”

While playing for the town team, she realized that she was a rather decent player on the court and when she had an early growth spurt she found herself to be taller than most of the other girls and was positioned under the net. Eventually everyone else caught up to her in size and now she considers herself average height.

“At my height now, I play wing or small forward and can shoot the three,” Kinne said. “I’ve always been a decent shooter and three-point shooting is one of my best traits now, but it was something that I needed to work on to get my percentage up, especially if I wanted to get onto the court as a freshman.”

As a freshman playing for the varsity team, Kinne did not think that she was one of the most skilled athletes on the floor, but she knew that she could shoot the ball with the best of them. That ability got her onto the floor and her defense and fundamentals kept her there.

Here coach definitely agreed with her assessment.

“She has always been a good shooter and has been able to progress to an even better shooter through the years,” the Sutton Coach said. “When she was younger she watched and took it in, now she is a very passionate young lady with years of experience under her belt.”

Freshman Kinne originally found herself coming off the bench, but when the team sustained some injuries she became a starter by default. Although she knew that she belonged on the floor with the other girls, she still felt guilty being a freshman.

“That year there were two other freshman on the team and I was the only one getting the looks and I felt out of place,” she said. “I know the coaches and my teammates had confidence in my ability but I definitely felt guilty at times. It must have been hard for them; I’m just lucky they weren’t jealous.”

According to the coach, although Kinne is a very talented individual, she does have one major flaw.

“She is way too hard on herself and wants to excel at all times while staying perfect on the court,” Doldoorian said. “She can read the defenses well and has made herself into an inside shooter as well, but I have to keep telling her to not worry about being perfect all the time.”

The senior knows that she has always been a perfectionist in just about everything that she does, but she has been working on it so that it doesn’t get into her head and affect her game.

“No one wants to do poorly and when I used to make mistakes I let it get to me and it wouldn’t help my game,” she said. “I had to learn to just let it go; it’s part of the sport and no one is perfect – including me. I can now play freely and without pressure on myself so my game is much better.”

Her sophomore season has been her best by far. It was a season that almost wasn’t until the team was granted an eighth-grade waiver to have enough girls to play. Kinne and her Sutton teammates were not expecting a trip to the Final 4 that year by any stretch of the imagination, but it will be one that lives in their memories forever. 

However, that season is two years removed and the senior is hoping that she can help guide this year’s team to an even better performance in the State Tournament. As the team’s only senior and leader she wants to not only hold herself accountable on and off the court she wants the younger girls looking to her for guidance. 

“I’m hoping that we can have a great year; obviously it’s my final ride with the team so I want to go out and do the best that I possibly can whether it’s improving my scoring or any other stat to help this team win,” Kinne said. “I need to focus and be there for the rest of the team.”

Doldoorian sees no issue with his senior being the one the girls turn to. Last year he saw her connect with the handful of freshman that were on the team and knows that they are comfortable approaching her. Now he’s hoping that she can help this team to be successful and go out on top.