Iowa State University Athletics
Ross Making Most Out of Second Senior Season
02.28.2009 | Women's Basketball
AMES, Iowa - Toccara Ross' senior season at Iowa State hasn't played out exactly how she wanted, but an extra year of eligibility has given her more than she could have hoped for. Ross tore the anterior cruciate ligament in her right knee in a game at Minnesota on Dec. 21, 2007, and everything changed.
Ross came to Iowa State from Kirkwood Community College (Cedar Rapids, Iowa) and made an instant impact as a junior in 2006-07. She was Iowa State's third leading scorer at 10.7 points per game and led the Cyclones in rebounding with 7.3 boards per contest. She surprised coaches and fans with her immediate impact and helped take Iowa State to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
Last season she was the only senior on a young team. Her season was just beginning to take form when she suffered the season-ending injury. Ross was approved for a medical redshirt and given a second chance at her senior campaign. Teammate Nicky Wieben tore her ACL a few weeks after Ross, but the two injuries were very different and Ross had a much rougher road to recovery, having to undergo a second scope just before the start of the 2008-09 campaign. Ross' do-over was already being cut short again.
“It's really hard and I don't want people to feel sorry for me because I've had the best opportunities anyone could imagine,” Ross said. “But at the same time, I don't want people to get this idea that I did something wrong. It just happened. Some people bounce back from injuries quicker than other people. I still look forward to playing, but I also know that I have more work to do physically to get to where I need to be.”
Ross has seen playing time in 25 of ISU's 27 games this season, but her role has changed, averaging just 2.4 points and 1.8 rebounds. She's found new ways to help her team as it has reached 20 wins and is likely to make the NCAA Tournament for the third time in her career.
“I don't think there is any question that Toccara has had one of those years that she has really struggled with,” ISU head coach Bill Fennelly said. “Her rehab didn't go maybe as smoothly as we would have liked and her injuries are probably a little more severe than Nicky's injuries. It's one of those things where the timing hasn't been great for her. She's still worked very hard in practice and she contributes. It's probably not the senior year you would have dreamt about, but still she's on a very good team. She basically won us the game at Nebraska. Her goals and her abilities to contribute are not as consistent as some of the other kids, but we've had to find those moments and those times when her experience, her talent and her aggressiveness can contribute in a given situation instead of from game to game.”
Her point totals and minutes played aren't the biggest factor for Ross anyway. When she got to Iowa State, she was tagged as “Toccara Ross, the basketball player,” which didn't sit well with her. Her goal has always been to make a bigger impact, and with her extra year of eligibility she has made the most of those opportunities.
Ross joined the Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. and became the treasurer and secretary, where she got involved with several nonprofit organizations. It has sparked her desire to eventually create a nonprofit organization of her own that helps kids. That dream began back when she was a freshman at Kirkwood and she began working basketball camps at UConn.
“Kids that would normally not ever think of going to a camp, have a chance to do so,” Ross said. “That program was more than just a basketball camp. It helped those girls realize that they can live their dreams like anybody else. They don't necessarily have to have the money to go to camp. It was an outlet for them to play basketball and meet people who were just like them, who had the same journey, but got to live out their dreams. I would like to have a program like that. The group of kids that I met the summer of my freshman year definitely made an impact on me.”
Ross admits her childhood wasn't ideal. She moved constantly and attended four different high schools, but it just helped drive her desire to help others who are in situations like what she grew up in.
“I really like working with youth and underprivileged kids because I was an underprivileged kid,” Ross said. “I know what those kids look like, and I never had the type of programs we are trying to implement. I would definitely like to start my own nonprofit.”
“She's been extremely involved,” Fennelly said. “There are very few people on campus that have not either met ?T' or interacted with her in a way that has been a service to other people. She is in her sorority and she has volunteered for a lot of things, which is to her credit. She grew up in a very tough situation and a lot of people use it as an excuse for all the problems in their life. Toccara has used it as a way to motivate herself to help other people so that they don't have to go through what she went through growing up.”
Ross was on schedule to graduate last May with a degree in communications studies, but after the approval of a medical redshirt for her to play another year of basketball at ISU, her academic plans changed as well. She added a second degree in speech communication. She is now on schedule to graduate with both degrees this May. After taking a few more courses, she found a new niche in rhetorical criticism. She's now looking at the possibility of going to graduate school.
“She kind of had her life mapped out and then she got hurt,” Fennelly said. “She was supposed to graduate and be done with basketball and be done with school. She has used that year to continue to do things on campus and in the community that has allowed her to help other people. We talk all the time on the court about people who can impact winning, and she has impacted winning off the court as well. That says a lot about her. She has made her mark here and impacted the lives of a lot of people.”
