Next-generation student-athletes
Current Golden Gopher athletes Brynn and Tenley Senden are the fifth and sixth in their extended family — over three generations — to wear the maroon and gold.
In the third grade, Tenley Senden was given a writing assignment that produced thoughts about her current school year, along with a few hopes and dreams. The beginning of her paper shows flashes of a primordial bucket list, and this was her second goal:
"I want to be a Gopher SOCCER PLAYER in colleg." [sic (but c'mon, this is a third-grader)]
mom Kristen for a third-grade assignment
A decade later, Senden achieved that very specific dream, joining the Gopher soccer team this past fall and leading all freshmen in shots (21) and shots on goal (12).
But she's far from the first in her family to proudly wear the maroon and gold. She's now one of six to play or coach for the Gophers — in six different sports — over the course of three generations.
Tenley's sister Brynn is a junior on the women's basketball team, and was named Academic All-Big Ten after her sophomore season. Their mother Kristen (Vandersall) Senden was a gymnast from 1994-97, helping the Gophers advance to their first-ever NCAA Championships. And father Stu Senden was a forward on the men's hockey team from 1997-2001, playing for coaches Doug Woog and Don Lucia.
That's Ski-U-Mah, pa, and two siblings in one household, for starters.
In addition, Kristen's brother Mark Vandersall was a catcher and outfielder for John Anderson's baseball team from 1992-95, and their father Bruce Vandersall (Brynn and Tenley's grandfather) was a football coach — including a stint as defensive coordinator — for the Gophers from 1973-82.
So when you ask if there are any family photos available showing some maroon and gold, you get a large folder of choices.
Academics, location, and family: the University of Minnesota has it all
Kristen says that when her father moved to Minnesota for the coaching job, her family became immersed in Gopher sporting events and was raised on the messaging that sports is an analogy for life.
"That was what we did; that was part of our social scene," she says. "It really is part of our DNA, because that's what we like to do. It's so fun and the U is so lovable."
She and brother Mark were even featured in a 1995 article in the Minneapolis Tribune, titled "Gophers keep it in the family," detailing how they attended each other's sporting events and had the strong support of their family. That was when the athletics prowess spanned only two generations.
Stu's connections are just as strong, if less focused on athletics. His three siblings have degrees from the University of Minnesota Twin Cities in mechanical engineering, electrical engineering (in the College of Science & Engineering), and from the then-Carlson School of Management (now Minnesota Carlson). "We have a deep, Minnesota-based, Gopher-rooted loyalty to the University," he says. "Everybody has had a great experience there."
Stu and Kristen also graduated from Minnesota Carlson — she in marketing and sales and he in economics and business.
While they stress that they never pressured Brynn or Tenley to carry on the Gopher family tradition, they are elated with what their daughters are getting to experience.
"It's not easy doing what they're doing — being a student-athlete at a Big Ten university," Stu says. "If you can get through that, there's a high probability that you're going to be successful in a lot of different areas in your life moving forward."
And if they were to decide not to continue in their sport, "Where do you want to get your degree from?" Kristen adds. "That's an obvious choice. The relationships that you build, right here in your backyard, and the degree you get, it carries you a long way if you put the work in."
'Growing up, we were surrounded with a lot of maroon and gold'
Daughters Brynn and Tenley are quick to echo that their parents didn't pressure them into staying close to home or playing for the Gophers. Brynn had been recruited by former women's basketball head coach Lindsay Whalen and decided on Minnesota fairly early on, and Tenley never seriously considered going anywhere else, not after her prophetic third-grade jottings.
"Ever since I knew what college was, that was always where I had dreamed of going," Tenley says, "because I've seen stories and photos of my parents succeeding there, and obviously I wanted to be like them."
"Both of us wanted to go to the U; we just had to pull the trigger," adds Brynn. "And I think we can both say that we made the right decision."
They love that their parents are able to attend virtually all of their home contests, and Brynn and Tenley can just as easily head home to Medina, Minnesota, sometimes bringing along teammates who don't have family nearby.
For Brynn, the chance to follow in her parents' academic footsteps at Minnesota Carlson was another factor in her decision to choose the University. "I knew that it would have me set up well after college," she says. Now that she's here, she's thrilled with her coaches and all the players they've been recruiting.
"I'm so blessed to be able to call those teammates some of my best friends, and I get to do practices and do life with them every single day," she says. "I don't know if I'd have it any other way."
While Tenley's academic and athletic journeys are just starting, she'll continue to have her sister nearby for advice. Next year, the two of them will live in the same apartment building and on the same floor, just down the hall from each other.
For anyone keeping score, there is another sibling in the family. Younger brother Cal is in eighth grade, is a talented hockey player, and practices his skills practically nonstop at home, according to his sisters.
But despite any "internal pressures" he may someday face to be a Gopher, his parents will not be meddling with his college choice. "We want to make sure that there is no expectation [that he'd be a Gopher]," says Kristen. The only expectation, she adds, is that he works on goals for the coming year.
As for Tenley's third-grade writing assignment? For the record, the first goal on her list was to "accomplish 3rd grade so I can move on to 4th grade," so she's had her priorities in order from the get-go.
And when her mother shared that long-ago note with Tenley before her first-ever soccer match in the fall, she got a bit emotional realizing what it represented. Recalls Tenley: "My dream is literally coming true."
Follow Brynn Senden and the women’s basketball team at Gopher Sports.
Follow Tenley Senden and the soccer team at Gopher Sports.
