Don HorkeyAsked for a word or two about her hustling, 5-foot-9 senior guard, Kara Holinski, Bloomfield Hills Marian coach Mary Cicerone took off on a verbal fast break that left this scribe in a daze. “I can’t find enough great adjectives,” she said.
Genuine, kind, compassionate, committed to whatever she does, hard-working and dependable are just a handful that I could catch up with.
Then, she tops it all off with a whopper: “She’s the best captain and leader I have had in my 34 years of coaching,” all of it at Marian that includes five state championships and 13 Catholic League titles.
“She’s our best on offense and our best on defense.”
A recent typical example: the Mustangs (10-1, No. 1 Class A) romped 58-34 on Jan. 23 over Class B No. 8-rated Dearborn Divine Child. Kara tallied 17 points, 3 assists, 2 deflections, 1 block and 1 steal for Player of the Game honors.
Fans still recall her 20-point performance against archrival Farmington Hills Mercy in last year’s state semifinal on Marian’s journey to the Class A championship.
“We know our different roles,” is Kara’s summation of the team’s success. “We play as a unit. It’s fun out there.”
Marian athletic director Dave Feldman is equally effusive in his praise of Kara, a four-year varsity player: “She gets more out of what God gave her than anyone I’ve ever met.”
Now, it’s my turn to jump on the “great adjectives bandwagon” about Kara’s life off the court, which is just as compelling.
She’s seriously studious. After grades 1-6 at St. Michael’s in Livonia (the family’s home parish), she insisted on attending Frost Middle School for its grades 7-8 program designed specifically for students of high ability and high achievement.
And, when it came to high school, she selected Marian for its “rigorous academic” curriculum.
So it’s no surprise that she’s really smart. She carries a 4.35 average in Marian’s demanding standards. In the fall, she’ll be taking her basketball skills and academic talents to Massachusetts Institute of Technology, often cited as among the world’s top universities. Consider: as of 2014, 81 Nobel laureates, 52 National Medal of Science recipients, 45 Rhodes Scholars, 38 MacArthur Fellows, and two Fields Medalists have been affiliated with MIT.
Kara is elated beyond description. “I wanted the most rigorous school I could find” for her intended major, engineering, and minors in computer science and Spanish.
Her mother, Lisa, was hoping for a college “within four hours of their home.” She is consoled, however, that her son, Andrew (Brother Rice 2011), will be working in nearby Boston after he graduates this spring from Carnegie-Mellon in Pittsburgh.
Kara is Jesus-centered. “She is very devoted to her Catholic faith,” says her mother. The family belongs to St. Michael the Archangel Parish in Livonia.
Kara’s search for a more meaningful faith experience sparked a renewed focus that “Jesus is the purpose of my life” after hearing a homily a couple of years ago by Fr. John Riccardo, pastor of Our Lady of Good Counsel Parish in Plymouth.
She finds inspiration in the lives of a pair of saints whose approaches to spiritual life are at the opposite ends of the spectrum — St. Therese of Lisieux’s “Little Way,” the faithful fulfilling of life’s daily duties, and St. Faustina, a reliance on God’s Divine Mercy in the face of adversity.
Kara is faith-motivated. Among her community services, Kara frequently volunteers at the parish’s Peanut Butter and Jelly Project, providing food and clothing to the needy and at summer Vacation Bible School. She is planning on helping out at Habitat for Humanity this summer before heading off to college.
Intrigued — this last adjective is for me. Kara says her life’s goal is to “make a positive impact.” She is one Catholic League student-athlete whose progress I intend to watch with great interest.
Don Horkey may be reached at [email protected].
