Most great athletes play more than one sport in high school. Whether it's a football star running the 100-meter dash, or a field hockey player booting balls around on the soccer field, playing multiple sports provides athletes with a great way of keeping in tip-top physical shape as well as maintaining their competitive edge.

When they get to college, however, these great athletes usually pick one sport. The football player will hang up his track spikes and add an extra 20 pounds of muscle, while the field hockey player will give up juggling the soccer ball to better hone her stick work. They find the sport they are best at, and focus their energies appropriately. Doing any more would just be too much.

Unless of course, you happen to be Katie Schumacher.

Already a dominant force on the Penn State women's volleyball team, Schumacher is trying her hand at basketball this winter, bringing her skills from Rec Hall into The Bryce Jordan Center and joining the exclusive club of two-sport Division I collegiate athletes.

It's not as though the junior forward from Chicago is a novice to the sport. In actuality, she has just as much big-game experience, if not more, than her Lady Lion teammates, and like them was a heavily recruited high school basketball player.

A four-year starter on both the volleyball and basketball teams for Mother McAuley High School, Katie helped lead the Mighty Macs to two state titles in volleyball as well as three trips to the state basketball playoffs, finishing as high as second.

Schumacher also knows a little bit about performing under pressure. As a sophomore on the volleyball team last year, she played an integral part in the Nittany Lions' run to their first-ever national championship.

And with the graduation of All-Americans Lauren Cacciamani and Bonnie Bremner, Schumacher stepped up this season and took on the role of team leader as Penn State again went deep into the NCAA tournament, advancing to the regional finals.

Still, it's hard to just walk on to any basketball was in the NCAA Women's Final Four a year ago.

"There's no question the demands of Division I sports in the Big Ten are really high," Penn State women's volleyball coach Russ Rose, a man who knows firsthand about such demands. "Especially participating in not one, but two, nationally recognized programs."

Rose said that it may take a while for Schumacher to get adjusted to shooting at nets instead of spiking over them, but he added that her basketball pedigree as well as her natural abilities will make the transition that much easier.

"She was one of the top players in the state of Illinois," Rose said. "She's athletic, jumps well, has good timing, and is very competitive. There's a certain period of transition, but it's a rare player who can go from one (sport) to the other."

The Lady Lions felt that Schumacher was that type of player. Katie said she had always considered trying her hand on the hardwood, but hadn't given it serious consideration until this fall. She mentioned the idea to the Penn State coaching staff as well as Rose, and soon became Happy Valley's answer for Bo Jackson.

"She talked about it toward the beginning of November," Gerald Schumacher, Katie's father, said. "She talked to us, Coach Rose, (Penn State women's basketball) Coach (Rene) Portland, and a few of her friends. She thought she'd give it a try."

The addition of Schumacher to the Lady Lion roster has proved beneficial to both parties. While Katie got the chance to fulfill a dream, Penn State received a much-needed reserve. Preseason injuries and graduation wore the Lions' previously deep roster down to just nine players, four of them freshmen.

"They were down in numbers," Schumacher said. "So I think it was a good opportunity to take this year, and I'm glad I went with it."

While Schumacher's impact on the team hasn't immediately been felt (she has seen action in only five games thus far, compiling 26 minutes and 10 points), Penn State assistant women's basketball coach Michael Peck said the benefits of Schumacher's addition will most likely be long-term.

"When we really are going to see it is when we get deeper into the Big Ten season and into the Big Ten tournament in March," Peck said. "Right now she still has a little rustiness from not having played basketball at this level."

Peck, who works primarily with Schumacher and the rest of the Lion post players, praised Schumacher's athleticism and stellar work ethic, but admitted that it will most likely take some time for her to master the intricate Penn State playbook.

What will help Schumacher, Peck said, is that many of the skills needed on the basketball court are similar to those used during volleyball matches.

"She has to be quick off her feet, know where the ball is at all times," he said. "There are plays you run in volleyball as well as basketball."

The most important difference between Schumacher's roles on her respective teams is something that won't show up in any statistical column. Where the volleyball team looked to Schumacher for big plays as well as leadership, the basketball team already has established senior leaders in Lisa Shepherd and Maren Walseth.

"She's not coming in where everything depends on her," Rose said.

From that standpoint, it has been an adjustment for the competitive Schumacher.

"It's a different feel not being the one that's always talking," she said. "But from experience I'd always felt it would be beneficial if I could help in some way, whether it's words of encouragement or a high-five."

There's also the matter of the absence of an offseason, where volleyball players spend time physically and mentally recharging as well as working on their weaknesses. But Schumacher doesn't see it as a setback.

"Volleyball is getting ready to start their spring conditioning now anyway. People think you have an offseason, but you really don't," she said. "Yeah, they have a little more time, but I'm enjoying this. I like being active and always having something to do, so it's enjoyable for me."

Which is really what it's all about, no matter what sport you're playing.

"My advice to Katie was, 'You only have two years left, enjoy everything you possibly can.' I just hope she keeps that enjoyment," Gerald said. "In two years she'll be all done. I also told her, 'People only talk about playing two sports in college -- you've done it.' "