HAMLIN – Addison Neuendorf can sum up her high school career in one word – grateful. 

But even that’s not really enough to encapsulate what has, to date, been an outstanding ride for the Hamlin senior.

“It’s so crazy,” Neuendorf said. “I just remember when we moved to Hamlin, I was an eighth grader. That feels like it was just yesterday. I’ve always said there’s so much time left, but really there’s not. It’s crazy how fast it comes to an end. But throughout all the time I’ve been there, we’ve exceeded so many goals, there’s so much to be proud of.”

There is, for instance, that State A basketball championship, won during Neuendorf’s freshman season. Or those back-to-back trips to the state volleyball tournament the last two seasons.

All not to be taken for granted, especially since it was all so not part of Neuendorf’s plan.

Neuendorf, you see, was the dissenting voice during the family discussion about leaving Mitchell for Hamlin.

“I was the only one in the family that was like, no, I don’t want to do this, because I hate change,” Neuendorf said. 

The move wasn’t the first for the Neuendorf family. Addison was born in Aberdeen, where her father Todd Neuendorf was the head boys basketball coach at Roncalli and her mother Jaime was an assistant for the volleyball and basketball programs. The family departed for Mitchell when Addison was in grade school before settling in Hamlin five years ago.

And now?

“Since we’ve moved, I wouldn’t ever trade. I’d do it again a thousand times,” Neuendorf said.

And not just because of the success on the various courts of action, though there’s been plenty of that to go around.

“It’s crazy how close everyone is,” Neuendorf said. “The community backs all of Hamlin’s sports. Everybody wants you to succeed, so they’re going to do their part. You just have to do your part. It’s a whole team effort.”

Success has followed, of course. The Chargers were the state runner-up in basketball Neuendorf’s eighth grade season, followed by a championship run the following season and the hunger to repeat ever since.

“Most people are lucky to win one (state title),” she said, “but after you win it, that’s all you want to do because you’re so high on the mountain top, you want to feel that again, because it shows all the hard work, determination and grit that your team has. So once you get there, you’re hungry to do it again.”

Now with one season left on the basketball court, Neuendorf is reminded sometimes where it all began.

“When we were really little, our parents never really had babysitters for us,” she said. “They’d just take us with them to practice. So when the older girls were practicing, I would just make fun of them and have fun with them and they’d teach me all the stuff.”

Now she’s just trying to do her part to pass that experience along to the younger Charger players.

“At Hamlin we do a really good job of including the younger girls,” Neuendorf said. “I’d say there’s a lot of younger girls that look up to the whole varsity team. I’d say that’s a very full-circle moment.”

And in a true full-circle experience, Neuendorf will be continuing her career at Northern State next season, returning to where it all began – in Aberdeen.

“I really, really loved the atmosphere and obviously the town of Aberdeen,” she said. “Knowing the town, I felt very comfortable up there.”

She’s also expecting the same sort of coaching she’s experienced her whole life at home under NSU coach Paula Krueger: high expectations.

“Having a coach that supports you not only as an athlete, but also as a human is very nice,” she said. “But I also know she’s going to push me to be my best all the time. She’s not going to let things slide.”

Still, perspective matters, and when Neuendorf looks back at all the twists and turns her career has taken, she still remains settled on that one descriptor. Gratitude.

“Hamlin has been very grateful for all the success that it’s had,” she said. “Not only the wins and the losses, but just the memories we’ve made throughout. Winning obviously feels the best, but when you look back, there’s more to it than the wins and the losses.”