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| Rob Dykstra |
Newly engaged and thinking about his future, Rob Dykstra had a tough
decision to make—one that had nothing to do with churches, tuxedos
or wedding cakes. His choice was whether to come back and play out his
final year of eligibility as a Calvin College Knight.
One year later, the tri-captain produced another successful basketball
campaign, averaging 8.3 points per game and 6.7 rebounds per game.
Rob’s father, Tom, was a standout basketball player at Wheaton
College in the late 1960s. When it came time for Rob to make his decision
on a school, he decided to branch out.
“My whole family had gone to Wheaton, and I wanted to have my own
experience; not that I couldn’t have had that at Wheaton, but I
was looking to create my own tradition. It also didn’t hurt that
my girlfriend, now my fiancée, was coming to Calvin.”
At the end of last year, it seemed like the 2002-03 Knight team would
be the top contender for the MIAA crown. But after a 16-11 finish, capped
with an 81-80 overtime loss to archrival Hope College in the MIAA tournament
semifinals, the past season was frustrating, Dykstra admitted.
“We just didn’t come together as a team and play like that
for 40 minutes a game. We showed glimpses of being a great team at times,
but we just couldn’t string that together. It’s been hard
as a leader because you feel responsible for the way the team plays,”
he said.
Undersized at the power forward position, standing at 6’4”,
Dykstra developed a style of play that gained him respect from teammates
and opponents alike.
“I gained a lot of my tenacity from the soccer field, but because
I matured late I was almost always undersized,” he said. “So
I figured that I would make up for it in other ways like hustling and
playing with lots of heart.”
When the Knights won the DIII national championship in 2000, Dykstra
was watching from the bench, sidelined by an injury. This experience helped
developed him as a leader as well as a player.
“The seniors on that team were very special, and I learned so much
from them concerning life and leadership. I was very determined the next
season to come out and keep pursuing my dream of playing college basketball,”
Dykstra said.
Dykstra is currently serving as a student intern in the Kelloggsville
(Mich.) High School athletic department. After graduation, he hopes to
start a career in business or school administration.
“I am looking in the area of being an athletic director because
I feel like I can relate to athletes, and have been through some of the
same things they will be going through,” he said. |
