Kristin Just Folkl (born December 19, 1975) is an American former

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Sum ...

player and collegiate and professional women's basketball player. She now goes by her married name of Kristin Folkl-Kaburakis. As a volleyball player she was part of the United States National Team.

Early years and Stanford University

She played

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

and

at St. Joseph's Academy in her hometown of

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

, leading both of her sports teams to state championships each year in which she played. Folkl was named a High School All-American by the WBCA. She participated in the WBCA High School All-America Game in 1994, scoring twenty-three points. 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 GTE Corporation, formerly General Telephone & Electronics Corporation (1955–1982), was the largest independent telephone company in the United States during the days of the Bell System. The company operated from 1926, with roots tracing furth ...

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 The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

. In 1998, she won the Honda Sports Award as the nation's best female collegiate volleyball player. Folkl graduated from Stanford in 1998 with a degree in

economics Economics () is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interactions of economic agents and how economies work. Microeconomics analyzes ...

. She has been inducted into Stanford University's Hall of Fame.

WNBA and overseas basketball career

She began her professional career with the

Women's National Basketball Association The Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) is an American professional basketball league. It is composed of twelve teams, all based in the United States. The league was founded on April 22, 1996, as the women's counterpart to the Natio ...

(WNBA) playing for the Minnesota Lynx after the team drafted her during the

1999 WNBA Draft 1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major schoo ...

. She was traded to the

Portland Fire The Portland Fire were a professional basketball team in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) based in Portland, Oregon that joined the league in 2000 as the counterpart to the National Basketball Association, NBA’s Portland Trail B ...

in 2000 to become a part of the expansion season Portland team. She also played professional basketball overseas for teams in Australia, Switzerland, and

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...

WNBA career statistics

Regular season

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Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

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Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

, 32 , , 31 , , 26.9 , , .428 , , .417 , , .825 , , 7.7 , , 1.4 , , 0.6 , , 1.1 , , 1.2 , , 5.6 , - , align="left" , 2002 , align="left" ,

, 32 , , 4 , , 18.8 , , .492 , , .000 , , .886 , , 4.6 , , 1.0 , , 0.6 , , 0.5 , , 1.0 , , 4.8 , - , align="left" , Career , align="left" , 4 years, 2 teams , 128 , , 56 , , 22.1 , , .459 , , .229 , , .726 , , 5.2 , , 1.3 , , 0.6 , , 0.7 , , 1.1 , , 5.7

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 A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

. Her duties include directing the revenue generation and fundraising efforts for the commission as well its affiliated St. Louis Sports Foundation. She also coordinates the commission's partnership and membership programs. Folkl is married t
Tassos Kaburakis
an attorney and a professor in sport law and management at Saint Louis University. According to an article in the ''

St. Louis Post-Dispatch The ''St. Louis Post-Dispatch'' is a major regional newspaper based in St. Louis, Missouri, serving the St. Louis metropolitan area. It is the largest daily newspaper in the metropolitan area by circulation, surpassing the ''Belleville News-De ...

'', 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,

(1999–2002)

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Folkl, Kristin 1975 births Living people All-American college women's basketball players American expatriate basketball people in Australia American expatriate basketball people in Greece American expatriate basketball people in Switzerland American women's basketball players American women's volleyball players Basketball players from St. Louis Minnesota Lynx players Parade High School All-Americans (girls' basketball) Portland Fire players Small forwards Stanford Cardinal women's basketball players Stanford Cardinal women's volleyball players Competitors at the 1994 Goodwill Games Goodwill Games medalists in volleyball