Inside the Huddle | 'I Want To Be Someone Little Kids Can Look Up To': Bostic Serves as Role Model, Inspiration for Younger Generations in Senior Season

The start of Kendall Bostic’s basketball journey is memorable for all the wrong reasons. Though she did not recognize it at the time, she simply was not good. She is not afraid to admit it.

She would score in the wrong basket. She would play defense instead of offense or offense instead of defense. The game was moving too fast for her. 

But, most importantly, Kendall was having fun. Plus, what fourth-grader doesn’t love getting to wear a neon yellow jersey and spending time with their friends?

Her parents nearly pulled her out of basketball, but Kendall loved the game of basketball too much to quit, even if she did not possess the skills to back it up.

“I was totally oblivious to how terrible I was, but I had an absolute blast,” Kendall Bostic said. “I loved it, and I think that was when my parents were like, ‘We gotta let her stick it out and figure it out.’ I was having so much fun. They were supportive about it, which was good.”

Her parents both played college basketball and knew what it took to reach that level, and they did everything they could to offer support to their daughter at that age. They just wanted what was best for her, and that initially did not appear to be hoops.

“We were just like, 'Oh boy, she could be on the struggle bus,' but she developed a love for it. She wanted to be in the gym all the time,” said Kevin Bostic, Kendall’s dad. “We always put her in situations where she was uncomfortable, where she was going to be challenged. Our motto has always been, 'If you're the best player in the gym, find another gym, because you're never gonna get better.' That's the mentality that she's grown up and started playing basketball with.”

Bostic’s first sport, though, was softball. With her dad serving as her youth coach, she started playing as soon as she was old enough to sign up for tee-ball. She participated in softball until she turned 10, when she earned a spot on a local travel team.

Though her team was very successful, Kendall quickly got burnt out. The commitment was too much for her to handle, and she realized softball was taking away time that could be better spent shooting hoops in the gym. So, she decided to return her bat and glove and hang up her softball cleats.

Wanting to please everyone all the time, Kendall had a hard time telling her coach she would be leaving the team. The truth was, she felt she was letting people down, but the experience helped her gain perspective that would come back around later in life.

Kendall put all of her focus into basketball, and her hard work paid off. She started improving, and it was in middle school that she recognized her potential to eventually compete in college. Growing up in Kokomo, Indiana, the Bostic family regularly made the quick commute to Purdue to watch women’s basketball games, an experience that motivated Kendall to work toward reaching that level.

“I loved the atmosphere, the vibe, and all that. I used that as my inspiration,” Kendall Bostic said. “I was like, 'If I can get to the college level and play, I think that'd be cool.'”

Attending Northwestern High School, Kendall was always busy. She took part in a sport year-round: volleyball in the fall, basketball in the winter, tennis in the spring, and AAU in the summer. There was rarely any time to sit back and relax, but that’s exactly what Kendall was hoping for. 

“It was a lot to manage, but it was fun,” Kendall Bostic said. “I'm someone who likes being busy. I don't do well on Christmas break because there's nothing to do. I just enjoy being busy.”

Ahead of her junior season of basketball, Kendall announced her commitment to Michigan State, marking the end of a recruitment process that first began when she was in seventh grade. Not wanting to disappoint those around her, she made it a priority to call every coach who recruited her to inform them that she would be playing elsewhere.

That included calling Shauna Green, who was at Dayton at the time. Kendall initially planned on getting all of her calls done in one night by making quick conversation with the roughly 30 coaches to whom she would have to deliver some bad news.

Her phone call with Green lasted nearly two-and-a-half hours.

“It took quite a while to get through it all because she felt like she was disappointing people, but that was a process she had to go through,” said Angie Bostic, Kendall’s mom. “We had an expectation of her that whoever offered her to play college basketball, she would contact every coach and thank them when she decided to commit somewhere else. Some of those early lessons transferred over to much later in how to handle people and treat people well.”

The seventh member in Indiana history to join the exclusive 2,000-point, 1,000-rebound club at the high-school level, Kendall always found time to improve her craft, even with her busy athletic and academic schedules. Her dad recognized her passion and dedication, and he did everything he could to help her reach her goals.

“For probably 30-45 minutes after every practice, she'd stay after to take more shots. It just became so natural for her,” Kevin Bostic said. “It wasn't me saying, ‘Hey, Kendall. You need to go shoot.’ She would just automatically say, ‘Dad, will you rebound for me?’ We'd go in on Saturdays and Sundays and get shots up all the time. I think it was kind of her release to make herself better.”

A two-time high school state champion and 2020 Miss Indiana Basketball finalist, Kendall spent one season with the Spartans before opting to transfer. Helping Michigan State to an appearance in the 2021 NCAA Tournament, Kendall averaged 12.4 minutes, 4.2 points, and 2.9 rebounds while playing primarily as a wing.

When looking for her next team, Kendall knew exactly what she was looking for. One of her main priorities was academics, as she was looking for a school with a good speech pathology program. Also wanting to play either at the four or five, Kendall found everything she was hoping for at Illinois, where she first arrived ahead of the 2021-22 campaign.

“When Kendall left Michigan State, some people were surprised by that. They would say to us, ‘Why is she going to Illinois? It's a losing program.’ We would say, ‘Losing programs don't have losing people,’” Angie Bostic said. “She wanted to be valued and respected, and that was how she was treated at Illinois. She's happy to be a part of turning that page.

“Kendall is all about relationships. She truly is. We remember telling college coaches during high school, ‘She likes to win, but she'll never care more about winning than she does the people beside her.’ I think that's why the Lord has blessed her with success.”

An All-Big Ten selection following her debut season in Champaign, Kendall remained loyal to Illinois when the program went through a coaching change in the spring of 2022. She offered her input throughout that search process, and the Illini eventually landed on a familiar face, someone Kendall knew quite well: Coach Green.

One of five players who returned from the previous roster, Kendall never considered going anywhere else. She simply loved Illinois, and reconnecting with Green was just a cherry on top.

“When I heard it was Shauna, I was like, ‘OK, we're good,’” Kendall Bostic said. “The academics are great. The campus is great. I have friends outside of basketball, which is great. I was like, ‘I don't really want to leave, and I don't want to go through the transfer process again.’ There were a lot of factors that kept me here, but I also had a lot of trust in the school that they would bring in somebody good.”

As soon as Coach Green and her staff arrived on campus, it became clear that Kendall would be a key piece of the puzzle. Wanting to win by any means possible, Kendall helped the program turn the page and flip the script in the largest single-season turnaround in program history.

Earning all-conference second-team status and receiving the Big Ten Sportsmanship Award for the second year in a row, Kendall stayed the course and reaped the benefits of staying loyal and trusting the coaching staff. Now in her senior season, she has etched her name in the program’s record book, both for her individual and team successes.

Once her time with the Orange and Blue comes to a close, she hopes to be remembered for her work ethic and inspirational story. Oh, and don’t forget about her rebounding.

“I would rather have a game with 25 rebounds and no points than 25 points and no rebounds. It's weird, but that's just how I think. That is something that is near and dear to my heart,” Kendall Bostic said. “I think that just exemplifies who I am as an athlete and who I am as a person. I want to do all the nitty gritty stuff. I want to do the little things to get my team the win. 

“I just want to be remembered as someone who had fun, worked hard, and inspired people. I want to be someone little kids can look up to. When I was little, I thought college players were professionals. I was like, 'I can never get to that point.' It's crazy.”

Kendall knows she will not be able to play basketball forever, which is why she is pursuing a master’s degree in special education. Relationships are at the heart of everything she does, and that does not stop with teaching.

Wanting to make an impact on the lives of future generations, Kendall completed her undergraduate studies in three years and realized her destiny came in the form of being an educator.

“I love being able to impact kids and being able to be someone who they look up to for guidance,” Kendall Bostic said. “My mom is a behavior consultant, and getting to hear how she impacts those kids and those adults, it's like, ‘I can do that. Those people are forever changed due to my mom.’ I want to be able to do that and help kids.”

Honored that her daughter is taking inspiration from her professional endeavors, Angie Bostic is fully supportive of Kendall’s dreams of being a teacher. It did not come as a surprise that she would eventually pursue that field, especially after recognizing Kendall’s emphasis on relationship-building at an early age.

“She loves what she's doing,” Angie Bostic said. “The Lord has provided many opportunities to show her that was definitely the right choice for her. She’s just really driven. She's benefited from that, but she also knows that she hasn't gotten there alone at all. That's where the inclusion of people comes in. She's just very blessed, and she knows it.

“She has never aspired to be number one. She does not need to be a star. She's very comfortable understanding that she is a part of something much bigger than herself. People can see that. You can't script that or mold that authenticity. The inclusiveness, I think, is why people respond to her. I hope she never loses that because that's what makes her special.”

For now, Kendall is making the most of her time on the basketball court. She makes winning plays and regularly records double-digit rebounds, but her individual achievements pale in comparison to the impact she makes on young girls in the stands at State Farm Center.

The arena is always filled with Kendall Bostic jerseys, and that’s usually before Kendall even comes out of the locker room for pregame warmups. From a fourth-grader who struggled to score on the correct basket to an All-Big Ten honoree, Kendall wants young girls to know anything is possible if you set your mind to it, even if you might struggle at first.