Addi Seggebruch Commits to DACC for Her Next Basketball Chapter
By FRED KRONER
Addi Seggebruch proved herself once.
Then, she did it again.
Now, the St. Joseph-Ogden senior hopes the third time is equally as successful as the previous two times.
When Seggebruch started high school, it was at the tiny Iroquois County school of Cissna Park, where the enrollment is less than 100 students.
She stepped in as a freshman and made an immediate impact with the girls’ basketball team, earning All-Area honorable mention accolades from The News-Gazette both of her first two years in high school.
“Right after my sophomore year of high school my mom, sisters, and I were planning on moving to the St. Joseph-Ogden school district,” Seggebruch said. “With moving to a bigger school district (approximately 430 students) than what I was used to and knowing how successful the St. Joseph-Ogden girls’ basketball program has always been, I wasn’t sure if I would be good enough to be on the team.”
She was encouraged to give it her best shot and soon she was a prominent player for the Spartans.
“After gaining confidence from my step-father (Josh Frerichs) to go out for the team, I began my basketball career at St. Joe,” Seggebruch said.
The 5-foot-7 Seggebruch averaged 6.5 points per game for SJ-O as a junior and was off to a stellar start to her senior year, leading the team in scoring in two of the first eight games, including a 20-point outburst at home against Bismarck-Henning/Rossville-Alvin.
“Halfway through this basketball season I tore my ACL, cutting my season short,” Seggebruch said. “I had worked super hard this past summer putting in a lot of extra off-season time to work on areas I needed to improve, in order to pursue basketball at the next level.”
She feared it was for naught.
“No college coaches had reached out to me during the first half of the season, so without the second half I didn’t even think it was a possibility for me anymore,” Seggebruch said. “Torn at whether or not I should still try and pursue basketball, I decided to just give it to God and let Him be in control.
“I hadn’t exactly thought that any school would even be interested in me anymore after my injury and that my chances of continuing my basketball career were over.”
And yet, she couldn’t totally leave her future to fate.
“Basketball has always helped keep me grounded in so many areas of my life and without it going into the next chapter, I truly thought I would lose a piece of myself,” Seggebruch said. “I decided to reach out to a close family friend who was an assistant coach at Parkland.
“I went to a few games and thought this was the path God was taking me down. I hadn’t heard back from the Parkland coach. Feeling a little discouraged and unsure what was ahead of me, unexpectedly my high school coach told me the DACC coach was wondering if I was interested in pursuing basketball at the next level.”
Seggebruch didn’t need to be asked twice.
“I immediately reached out and told him yes,” she said. “I then just felt that this was the opportunity God had in store for me and I just knew in my heart I could not pass it up.”
Seggebruch believes it was a match meant to be.
“After asking God to lead me in the right direction, He showed me that my basketball career wasn’t over quite yet,” she said. “I was able to know in my heart that DACC was the right choice because of the morals he (DACC head coach Kyle Bent) prioritized for building up his future team, which aligned with mine and the ways I had been coached in the past. I just felt that God wouldn’t have opened the door to the opportunity if He didn’t want me to take it.
“I also was excited to know that DACC has a very special trainer (Casey Hug) that is a legend throughout St. Joe and has helped me a ton.”
She has committed to the Jaguars but faces a challenge unlike any from her past.
Seggebruch not only has to play at a higher level, but she also needs to overcome the layoff from her injury. She is about three months into her recovery.
“I have been gaining a lot of strength back through my physical therapy,” Seggebruch said. “The whole recovery is about nine to 12 months.
“I still have a ways to go, but have been doing really well. I am limited to what I can currently work on due to my injury, but I am doing exercises and strength training to help with my recovery. Staying positive and trusting God that I will be back to 100 percent at the right time.”
Regardless of the injury, Bent said Seggebruch checked all the boxes that were important as he went out on the recruiting trail for DACC.
“I need kids who are willing to battle on the glass and defend,” said Bent, who is about to enter his second year as the Jaguars’ head coach. “She is a bigger guard who is a feisty scrapper and willing to defend.
“She’s a good teammate with good body language and effort. You could tell she is intrinsically motivated. Outside of the athletic tangibles, she is a high-character kid who seems willing to be coached.”
She is ready to start the transition.
“I believe that each player will hold a special role in making our team special and successful,” Seggebruch said. “I haven’t met any of my future teammates yet, but I can’t wait to create so many new friendships.
“I have talked to the DACC coach about my role for this upcoming season and I will be playing as an all-around guard. I am very excited to be able to step in right as I am needed. I love challenges and am willing to step into any role for my team to be successful.”
Depending on her comeback timetable, she could get a chance to prove herself at DACC quickly.
“We only return three players, and they all are posts,” Bent said. “She has an opportunity to get immediate (playing) time.”
Her willingness to work was only one of the factors leading to her success.
“Without the most amazing coaches, who believed in me and helped me put in the work outside the required time, I wouldn’t be half the player I am today,” Seggebruch said. “They truly helped me grow in areas that I needed work to improve in.
“They ultimately helped me pursue my long-term goal of competing at the next level and gave me the confidence to do so.”
Seggebruch is the definition of a self-made player.
“I have actually never been a part of a travel ball team because I didn’t always have the resources to join a team,” she said. “Without being able to be on a travel ball team, I knew I had to put in the extra work on my own time in order to progress my skills as a player.
“Also, playing summer ball during high school was very beneficial as well. I was very fortunate to have such amazing coaches to invest so much of their time in me and my teammates.”
SJ-O head coach Drew Arteaga said there was never a question about whether Seggebruch could help the Spartans. She moved into the starting lineup as a junior.
“When Addi moved here, she was a strong and physical guard that could attack and finish around the rim,” Arteaga said. “Addi’s biggest strength is her ability to rebound the ball on both the offensive and defensive end of the floor.
“She is a relentless and physical rebounder that does a nice job timing her jump to get the ball at its highest point. She is a player that has a natural instinct on where the ball is going to go when a shot goes up.
“Addi had a great junior year and was a huge piece in us winning the regional championship her junior year.”
As a senior, she wound up playing in 14 games for a 17-12 squad.
Arteaga said Seggebruch was primed for much more success than she experienced the previous season.
“Between her junior and senior year, Addi and I sat down for our 1-on-1 meeting and talked about the future and what that looked like for her,” Arteaga said. “We talked about her senior year and the role she needed to play and things she needed to improve on.
“We also talked about the things she had to get a lot better at if she wanted to play basketball at the next level. Addi took all of that feedback and absolutely ran with it.
“She committed herself to the weight room throughout the off-season and spent a ton of time in the gym improving her ball handling and perimeter shooting. She spent hours and hours in the off-season improving on the little details that we asked her to improve on and became a real perimeter threat by the start of her senior year.”
Beyond her skills, Seggebruch impressed her prep coach with her attitude.
“Addi was so awesome to coach because she was so coachable and wanted the feedback, good or bad,” Arteaga said. “She wanted to improve and wanted to get better. She is a coach’s dream and I am so happy that she is being given the opportunity to play at the next level.
“Addi is the most unselfish and genuine kid I have been around in 11 years of coaching and teaching. She has a heart of gold and has worked so hard to get where she is today.
“While I am so proud of Addi and the player she is on the floor, I am way more proud of her as a young woman. She is kind, compassionate, hardworking, giving, loving, and full of spunk. She is a kid that our staff truly enjoys being around and coaching. Addi is a kid that has worked hard for everything she has both on and off the floor.”
Arteaga is not concerned with how she will bounce back from the ACL injury.
“She understands that everything worth having takes time and you have to trust the process,” Arteaga said. “She understands failing doesn’t mean you should give up, but rather get back up and keep working at it.
“She understands that believing you can do it is the first step and it may take several thousand more before you are successful.”
Seggebruch started playing basketball competitively as a fifth-grader.
She developed a fondness for the game even before she was on a team.
“When I first picked up a basketball, I remember I used to chuck it up at the hoop ‘granny style,’” Seggebruch said. “I had grown up around basketball and just grew a love for it ever since I was little because of how competitive I am. I love that there is always something different about every game and the physicality of it as well.
“When I was younger there was so much I needed to work on. It just was something that in a sense came easy to me because of my mindset and determination. It all depends on how much work you want to put in to better yourself as a player.”
Seggebruch wasn’t always certain that collegiate basketball was the right path.
“Although I wasn’t sure throughout my beginning years of high school if that is what I wanted to pursue, after moving schools and gaining more confidence in my skills and myself, I knew I couldn’t give up on my dream,” she said.
Seggebruch plans on majoring in interior design with a minor in business.
“I see myself in 10 years gaining experience in the field of interior design, working for a design firm, to then potentially owning my own interior design company,” she said.
Seggebruch is pleased to be able to start college at a location less than 25 miles from her home.
“I was open to moving away from home, but it worked out for me being able to stay at home and pursue this next chapter in my life,” she said. “I feel like it will make the transition from high school to college a lot smoother and less overwhelming for me to jump right into.
“I am very close to my mom (Jennifer Olson), sisters (Alexis Seggebruch and Ava Seggebruch), and grandparents (Beverly Knight and Dennis Olson), so being close to them will make a huge difference in this next, big step in my life.”
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The DACC roster will include two other former area athletes for the 2024-25 season.
Former Oakwood forward Addy Wright is transferring after a year at Quincy College.
“I found her in the portal,” Bent said. “I like her strength and size. She knows what to do on the floor.
“She is hungry and has something to prove. She is supremely motivated.”
Wright had limited playing time as a freshman at Quincy, but Bent expects that to change at DACC.
“I thought she could make an immediate impact,” he said. “She is somebody who can create from 15 feet in, and her footwork is pretty good.”
Also set to join the Jaguars is current Oakwood senior Jaydah Arrowsmith. The guard averaged a team-high 14.4 points per game last winter and connected for a team-leading 49 three-pointers.
Bent was an assistant at DACC from 2010-14, and had a 16-14 record last year in his first season as the women’s basketball head coach.
Arrowsmith, Seggebruch and Wright are among the six signees thus far for DACC. Bent hopes to add another four or five players.
