COLUMBIA – If the title Kroenke rings a bell, it’s in all probability since you keep in mind former Mizzou star Josh Kroenke. Or possibly you keep in mind Josh’s dad, Stan Kroenke, proprietor of the L.A. Rams.
However there’s additionally a Kroenke in Columbia. Averi Kroenke, a senior at Rock Bridge Excessive College and a Missouri girls’s basketball commit, is branding her personal legacy with the Kroenke title.
And no, Stan and Averi aren’t truly that intently associated.
“We’re not intently associated, I’m like third, fourth cousins with him,” Averi mentioned. “… and I had nothing to do with the Rams leaving St. Louis!”
Averi Kroenke will commerce in her inexperienced and yellow uniform for a black and gold uniform.
Averi is among the greatest highschool basketball gamers in Missouri. She was named to the Central Missouri Athletics Circuit (CMA) All-Convention workforce and named the district’s co-Participant of the 12 months for the 2021-22 season.
She handed her 1,000 profession level park simply midway by means of her senior season and was named a McDonald’s All-American Sport nominee in January.
Rock Bridge women head basketball coach, Jill Nagel, says it’s Averi’s basketball IQ that’s grow to be one among her greatest strengths. That, alongside along with her management and communication.
“She’s at all times sort of one step forward,” Nagel mentioned. “She’s a coach on the ground, and so she’s in a position to talk loads of issues in observe but additionally within the locker room.”
Averi’s been part of the Rock Bridge women varsity basketball workforce since her freshman yr. Though her objective for her ultimate season was a powerful state run, Averi performed her ultimate recreation as a Bruin on March 3 the place the Bruins fell to Blue Springs South within the district championship.
Rock Bridge senior Averi Kroenke, proper, is guarded by Blue Springs freshman Lilly Gibler on Thursday, March 3 at Blue Springs in Blue Springs. Rock Bridge misplaced 65-62.
It wasn’t the top to her senior season as a Bruin that she hoped for, however she has extra to stay up for as a Tiger.
“[After] being at Rock Bridge for 4 years I believe it’s cool for individuals who have gotten to look at me play highschool basketball get to sort of sustain with what I’m doing at Mizzou,” Averi mentioned.
Averi formally signed her Nationwide Letter of Intent to play basketball on the College of Missouri in November. She is the one signee within the Missouri girls’s basketball 2022 class.
“I’m so excited,” Averi mentioned. “I’m actually attending to stay out like a childhood dream. I’ve grown up going to Mizzou video games, going to Mizzou camps, , desirous to be in that uniform. So it’s so cool that I’m going to get the chance to do this.”
Selecting to proceed her schooling and athletic profession at MU was a straightforward selection for Averi.
She spent her childhood idolizing Missouri athletes, she mentioned. Her ardour for basketball began at a younger age, because of her older twin brothers, who share a love for the sport.
“We undoubtedly have a bond over basketball,” Trevor Kroenke, Averi’s brother, mentioned. “I believe she undoubtedly received that competitiveness and loads of her toughness from that. Simply because she was round us.”
Her brothers nonetheless keep in mind the precise second Averi received the decision from Missouri.
“When Mizzou provided Averi, it was considerably of a no brainer,” Trevor Kroenke mentioned. “You watch Mizzou girls rising up and also you surprise, ‘Can Averi ever get there?’”
The Rock Bridge women basketball program is not any stranger to sending gamers on to play at Missouri. Athletes like Sophie Cunningham and Cierra Porter performed below coach Jill Nagel at Rock Bridge after which Robin Pingeton at Missouri.
“I’m attending to stay out my dream and do some fairly cool issues and simply play for Mizzou, that’s like a extremely huge deal for me attending to symbolize my dwelling state,” Averi mentioned.
Averi says she credit her success to each her household and her coaches at Rock Bridge. Nagel says she noticed expertise in Averi when she was solely an eighth grader, and to see her proceed on to play at Missouri it’s simply “particular,” Nagel mentioned.
“It was a lifelong dream for her to have the ability to go to Mizzou and in order that was fairly cool when she advised us that she was going to commit,” Nagel mentioned. “To have the ability to see our gamers keep on the town and play for his or her hometown workforce… that’s particular, as a result of we get to look at them extra.”
Now, Averi is simply months away from graduating highschool and formally beginning her subsequent chapter in a Tiger uniform. Her brothers say they’re excited to not solely watch her symbolize her dwelling state, however to look at her do what she loves on the subsequent stage.
“A participant performs arduous however she has the very best vitality of anyone I’ve ever seen play. She’s at all times flying across the courtroom, I don’t see her take a play off,” Trevor Kroenke mentioned.
Though it’s who she is off the courtroom that’s appeared to make the most important impression on these round her.
“On a regular basis she got here into observe for 4 years with a smile on her face whether or not she was having a great day or a foul day you wouldn’t know,” Nagel mentioned.
As Averi begins her profession as a Tiger, she says she’s excited to make a reputation for herself and hopes Missourians will study that she doesn’t truly know Stan, though it does make her snigger, she says.
“I would like my legacy to only be referred to as somebody who gave 100%, it doesn’t matter what was happening, and simply somebody who gamers might at all times come to. My staple is simply to attempt to assist individuals and be form to everybody,” Averi mentioned.