Dairy girl a threat on court for Caledonia

EITZEN, Minn. — Since she was a sophomore, dairy farm girl and senior Nicole Banse has been a starting shooting guard for Caledonia Area Public Schools’ girls’ basketball team.

“She’s definitely a hard worker who gets after it to improve her skills so she can help the team,” said her coach, Scott Sorenson. “She is definitely a team-first person (who) could care less about stats and accolades.”

Banse lives on her family’s dairy farm near Eitzen. Her parents, Mike and Kris, milk 100 cows and farm 600 acres. They also have a beef herd with 60 cow-calf pairs. Mason, Banse’s older brother, farms full time on the dairy as well. Banse is the youngest of five siblings, all of whom have played sports.

Sorenson has coached girls’ basketball at Caledonia for 21 years.

“She’s just a lockdown defender,” he said. “(She) just works her tail off. … We actually put in our defense that we’ve been running the last two years because of her, specifically, because she was such a ball hawk.”

The Caledonia team has about 20 girls on the roster, with eight regulars on the court. That means short breaks for Banse.

“I pretty much play the whole time,” she said. “I’d rather have it that way than not play. Because when I do go out, I’m like, ‘Put me back in.’”

Banse first played basketball around third grade for a private school’s team. In seventh grade, she started playing for Caledonia.

After high school graduation, Banse said she will not play basketball in college even though there is a team interested in her. She plans to pursue a 2-year registered nursing program at Northeast Iowa Community College in Calmar, Iowa.

Off the court, Banse is active on the farm.

“(Sometimes) Dad just throws you in the tractor and says, ‘Go do it,’” Banse said.

Banse said she does a little bit of everything on the farm, including helping milk cows, feeding calves, scraping manure with the skid loader, along with the tractor driving.

“I like just being here (on the farm),” she said. “Feeding the calves is always fun and (I) like just taking care of them because they’re obviously the cutest.”

Banse has multiple other things competing for her time as well. Banse works at the nursing home in Spring Grove as a certified nursing assistant whenever she can. Outside the basketball season, Banse runs track in the spring and strength trains three days a week with coaches during the track and basketball off-seasons.

Nutrition-wise Banse refuels with animal protein, drinking milk and eating eggs every morning,
snacking on cheese and crackers, or enjoying homemade ice cream for dessert.

During the basketball season, weeknights are taken up with two hours of practice or a game. With these commitments, Banse mainly helps on the farm on the weekends, with Sunday night being her main farm night.

Banse said her dairy experience has taught her lessons for the court.

“It definitely showed me what a work ethic is,” she said. “You have to work for things that you want to get to and not give up.”

Sorenson said he also discerns the impact of Banse’s farm background.

“You can definitely see how she was brought up in her hard work on the court,” he said. “It’s one of the things we always like to have: our best players are our hardest workers.”

Kris Banse said she and Mike try to get to as many of their daughter’s games as possible.

“This year will be a lot better with Mason here full time,” Kris Banse said. “(Mike and I) will both be able to go.”

Sorenson said he is proud of Banse, and appreciates how she is a leader to the younger girls on the team.

“Nicole’s very coachable,” he said. “We enjoy having her just simply because she knows what needs to be done and then gets it done. We don’t necessarily have to tell her all the time.”

Banse said she encourages other farm girls considering going out for basketball to try it.

“Do it, because it’s a lot of fun,” she said. “You’ll probably regret it if you don’t.”

Banse said one of her biggest accomplishments in high school so far was last year’s Section 1AA championship and placing fifth at state.

“(I want to) be conference champs again,” Banse said. “That’s always the first goal, and then obviously, to make it to state. But (we have to) achieve one thing at a time. I think it’s doable.”