Kristin Folkl

Kristin Just Folkl (born December 19 1975) is a former collegiate and professional women's basketball player. She now goes by her married name of Kristin Folkl-Kaburakis.

Early years and Stanford University

She played basketball and volleyball at St. Joseph's Academy in her hometown of St. Louis, Missouri, leading both of her sports teams to state championships each year in which she played.

In 1994, Folkl attended Stanford University and starred on their women's basketball and volleyball programs.

While at Stanford, she was a four-time volleyball All-American, a basketball all-American as a senior, and a two-sport academic all-American. She appeared in a total of six Final Fours (four in volleyball and two in basketball) and won three national championships in volleyball. In her senior year, she was a first team All-American in both sports and was named the GTE Academic Player of the Year. She was also a participant on the USA Women's National Volleyball Team, and was a first-alternate at the 1996 Summer Olympics.

Folkl graduated from Stanford in 1998 with a degree in economics.

Professional basketball career

She began her professional career with the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) playing for the Minnesota Lynx after the team drafted her during the 1999 WNBA Draft. She later played for the Portland Fire.

She also played professional basketball overseas for teams in Australia, Switzerland, and Greece.

Life after basketball

After her retirement from the WNBA, she returned to her hometown of St. Louis and served as a development officer for the Institute for Science and Health.

Since 2004, she has been serving as the director for development on the St. Louis Sports Commission, a privately funded non-profit organization. Her duties include directing the revenue generation and fundraising efforts for the commission as well its affiliated St. Louis Sports Foundation. She will also coordinates the commission's partnership and membership programs.

Folkl is married to Tassos Kaburakis, an attorney and a professor in sport law and management at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville via Indiana University.

According to an article in the "St. Louis Post-Dispatch", she gave birth to her first child, Ian Nicholas, on August 29, 2006.

Vital statistics

*Position: Forward
*Height: 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
*College: Stanford University
*Team(s): Minnesota Lynx, Portland Fire

External links

* [http://www.wnba.com/playerfile/kristin_folkl/index.html WNBA Player Profile]
* [http://www.stanford.edu/group/wbball/profiles/Folkl.html Stanford University Profile]
* [http://www.stlouissports.org/pressbox/releases/folkl12704.php December 7, 2004 press release on Folkl joining the St. Louis Sports Commission]