For three years, Dominique Redding and Kelcey Roegiers-Jensen have had their basketball lives chronicled by the St. Petersburg Times.
In July 2000, after outstanding freshman seasons in high school - Redding at Clearwater, Roegiers-Jensen at Boca Ciega - a photographer and reporter began tracking the best friends. The Times updated their development as they strove to achieve in school, basketball and life.
They graduated last month and accepted scholarships - Redding at fabled Tennessee, Roegiers-Jensen at Georgia State - and today's installment is the ninth and last of the series (though there could be occasional updates).
The repeated doses of publicity have impacted their lives.
"You hear it all the time in the hallways. You can't avoid it," Roegiers-Jensen said. "People saying things, like "Hey, superstar.'
"When (Times photographer Carrie Pratt) was at graduation, people were like, "Are you famous or something?' " Redding says life in a fishbowl heightened her awareness and concentration.
"It meant that you always have to be on top of your game," said Redding, a 6-foot-1 forward who was the Times All-Suncoast Player of the Year. "It helped me stay focused. And sometimes, my coaches used it as motivation.
"I know (Clearwater coach Tom Shaneyfelt), at practices, if I wasn't doing something I was supposed to do, he'd say, "They put you in the paper, and you're playing like this?' "
It also prepared her for the attention she will receive at Tennessee, where women's basketball and coach Pat Summitt are deified.
"It prepares you for college, for interviews and things like that," Redding said. "People get to see the real side of you."
For all involved, it was a learning experience. Not everything written was perceived as positive.
That was especially true for the second story, headlined "Going In Different Directions," which focused on the struggles of Roegiers-Jensen's high school team during her sophomore year.
It put a 16-year-old's personal frustrations on display.
"After the first (story in August 2000) I thought, "Oh this is so cool. This is wonderful,' " said Kathy Roegiers, Roegiers-Jensen's mother. "And then the second one came out (in January 2001) and I said, "I'm calling (the reporter) right now. He better not ask these young kids these questions again because they're just blurting out answers.
"I was very concerned about them not having the savvy, not being able to handle the questions. I was really concerned."
Ultimately, the girls believe, the media attention became whatever they chose to make of it.
"It's all in the way you handle it. If you let it go to your head, people will be saying, "Oh that's the worst thing they could have done,' " Roegiers-Jensen said. "But if you're humble about it and appreciate that it's helping not just us but women's sports, then people could say this was a really good thing and a lot of people benefited from it.
The consensus is it was more beneficial than detrimental.
"I think it was wonderful, actually," Roegiers-Jensen said. "After reading that letter (to the Times) by that one lady who talked about the stories, it really touched me to see that other people read this and, hopefully, they are getting something out of this."
