Michigan State University Athletics
Women's Basketball Senior Stories: Allyssa DeHaan
2/12/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Feb. 12, 2010
As the 2010 women's basketball senior day approaches, MSUSpartans.com will feature each of the team's four graduating seniors in the weeks leading up to the Feb. 28 Breslin Center finale. Second up is senior center Allyssa DeHaan.
By Hannah Case, MSU Athletic Communications Student Assistant
Standing at six feet and nine inches, Allyssa DeHaan is the tallest player in Michigan State women's basketball history. The senior from Grandville, Mich. currently holds the Big Ten and MSU titles for career blocked shots recently tied the NCAA record. She is one of only five Spartans in the top-10 all-time in both scoring and rebounding, has broken the school-record of blocked shots in a single game with nine on three occasions and has been the recipient of the Big Ten Player of the Week award eight times. DeHaan, who shares the title of captain with the three other seniors, has been named All-Big Ten and All-Big Ten Defensive Team three times each. But with all of her success on the court, DeHaan is humble about her achievements and wants to be remembered most for being a good role model.
"I am a very goal-oriented person and I like challenges, says DeHaan. "I have set everyday of my whole career up as a challenge for myself; as far as being a leader for this team and pursuing a degree in medicine. It is really difficult to balance both and have a social life. So, I just look at this whole college career as my biggest accomplishment."
Although she is most widely recognized in the basketball world for her height and defensive abilities, DeHaan is known outside the gym for her passion for giving back to the community. She has participated in numerous charity events including her most enjoyable, the Teddy Bear Picnic, which celebrated its fifth anniversary in September 2009 and benefits the MSU Children's Health Initiative.
"I really like spending time with kids. They were running around with their teddy bears that needed to be patched up. There were doctors and nurses from different fields that showed the kids different things. It was really fun because we also got to incorporate basketball into it."
DeHaan has also done philanthropy work outside of Michigan State basketball. Most notably, when she traveled with her church's youth group to Mexico and built a house in five days.
Community service is not the only aspect in which DeHaan is connected to her religion. She honors her faith by writing "Ao1", meaning Audience of One, on the top of her sneakers, which reminds her that she plays for God alone. DeHaan stays active in, and devoted to, her church and continues to look to her faith when faced with the challenges of being a student-athlete.
"God gave everyone a talent and I am just honoring him by playing the best I can and being the best person I can be. In every up or down I have had, he has always been there helping me through things, understanding the bigger picture and knowing what my purpose is. He makes things clear."
When prompted why she chose a major in pre-medicine and human biology, she explained that she has "a passion for helping people and an apt for learning," and just "put the two together."
After graduation, DeHaan intends on ultimately going to medical school and possibly becoming a pediatrician. However, she plans on prolonging medicine to play post-college basketball, either in the WNBA or overseas, so she doesn't "have regrets later on down the road."
What the immediate future holds for DeHaan is unclear, but she is certain that she wants to eventually apply her medical degree to advance the greater good of humanity.
"I put passion into whatever I do. I was given a gift and I want to put it to work."
