RIPON, Wis. - Kristin Dodds '98 was a two-sport star at Ripon College, earning All-Conference honors in both women's tennis and women's basketball, while winning conference championships in both sports. She was inducted into the Ripon College Athletics Hall of Fame in 2011.
"My decision to attend Ripon College was based on the ability to balance academics with being a two-sport student-athlete. I appreciate the personalized education that I received, along with the feeling of support people gave me while participating in athletics," Dodds said. "I gained an extra family through Ripon athletics and always tell people that I'd make the same decision to attend Ripon 100 times over!"
Under legendary tennis coach Chuck Larson '65, Dodds won two Midwest Conference Doubles Championships with teammate Nicole Halperin-Hanson '98 at the number one flight, winning back-to-back titles during her first two years with the team in 1994 and 1995. Dodds was also MWC runner-up at number one singles during her senior season.
As great of a tennis player as Dodds was, she was even better on the basketball court, where she helped legendary coach Julie Johnson win her first-ever MWC Championship in 1996. Dodds' career culminated in 1998 when she was named First Team All-Conference for the first time. She graduated as the school record holder in steals (182), 3-pointers (110), and assists (359). Dodds still holds Ripon's top mark for career assists, which ranks 10th in MWC history, and is currently fifth in school history for steals and sixth in 3-pointers, while ranking 18th in career points (818).
Even with her many eye-popping stats and accolades, it's something that happened off the court, usually on the way to games, that remains among Dodds' favorite college memories.
"I loved winning championships, but the best moments were the road trips in vans driven by coaches that, while long and seemingly painful when they happened, are now some of the best memories that make me and all of my teammates laugh."
When asked about her most influential coach, there's only one name that immediately came to mind - Julie Johnson.
"My first impression of Coach Johnson was how driven and focused she was. She supported her players both on and off the court, but she influenced me more after I graduated, as we developed a strong friendship and I'd often call her for professional advice," Dodds said. "Coach Johnson taught me how to be a good listener, how knowing your players and friends well is important when giving them effective advice, that what you do for others matters, and so many other things. She also taught me that your heart has never ending space to hold those you care about close."
As great as Dodds' athletic career was at Ripon College, it was well after graduation that she was able to do arguably her most important work, as she decided to join the United States Army in 2007, nine years after her Ripon career concluded.
"In the 2000's, the United States was heavily involved in the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan and I was doing a lot of reading about both. First Lady Laura Bush then created initiatives involving Afghan women and this topic drew a lot of my interest," Dodds said. "After talking with my cousin's husband, who was an Army Reserve MP and deployed once to Iraq, about different NGOs and military jobs that would give me the opportunity to be involved with Afghan women, he suggested I look at Civil Affairs in the Army. I researched this path with the Army Reserves and it fit best what I wanted to do, so on my 31st birthday, I enlisted in the U.S. Army and four years later, I was in Nangarhar Province, Afghanistan serving on a Provincial Reconstruction Team and working with Afghan women and children regularly."
Dodds is currently an Army Reservist, assigned to the 432d Civil Affairs Battalion in Green Bay, Wis. She has been deployed twice, serving in Operation Enduring Freedom from 2011-12 and currently stationed in Lithuania for Operation Atlantic Resolve. When not on active duty, Dodds lives in Greendale, Wis. with her husband, Tony Meucci and their children Liberty and Benjamin. She also works as a Senior EHS Specialist at Komatsu Mining Corp. Her military responsibilities consist of one weekend of training per month and one longer training course/mission each year, which lasts 2-3 weeks.
"Coach Johnson instilled so many values in her players, including several I've used during my military experience, such as teamwork and service to others. It's critical that I work as a member of a team in the military and as a Non-Commissioned Officer because it's my job to lead others and make sure I can leverage their strengths for the betterment of the team," Dodds said. "Coach Johnson was great at doing this with her players and mentoring us to do this in life. She also believed in serving others, so I do my best to keep this focus on a daily basis. The world is bigger than just me, and my service contributes to that. Coach Johnson was not a fan of my eye rolling when I was displeased, but I am very grateful that she fixed that bad habit through many minutes of wall sits before I went to Basic Training."
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