JEFFREY REINHART jreinhart@LNPnews.com

My Monday basketball columns kicked off this week. Every Monday through the regular season, I’ll have some sort of a feature story, plus stats and a Games of the Week grid. So be sure to pick up a New Era on Monday afternoon. For my first Monday feature, I spent some time over at Lancaster Mennonite, where a couple of players are dealing with issues away from the court - yet they (and the team) are shining on the court. This is one of the closest teams I’ve ever covered. They have an unbelievable bond. Here is their story:

Katelyn Vanderhoff has firmly established herself as one of the best three-sport athletes in the Lancaster-Lebanon League.

She’s dynamite in field hockey and on the soccer pitch, and Lancaster Mennonite’s junior shooting guard will be one of the Blazers’ go-to scorers this basketball season – a season in which Mennonite has raced out to a 5-0 start heading into Tuesday’s league openers.

That Vanderhoff can play so well in three sports at the varsity level, along with juggling her school work and other commitments, is amazing, considering what she must cope with every day when she walks away from the court or the field.

Vanderhoff’s older sister, Kylie, was diagnosed two years ago with Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL), which is a cancer of the white blood cells and bone marrow. CLL causes an uncontrolled growth of blood cells, and patients are usually inflicted with lymph node swelling. She is contemplating bone marrow transplant surgery to help curb the symptoms.

Unfortunately, Mennonite’s players are all too familiar with a teammate struggling with some health issues away from the court.

Mennonite senior guard Katelyn Kreider suffers from Immune Thrombocytopenic Purpura (ITP), a blood disorder caused when your body’s immune system destroys healthy blood platelets, thinking they are disease-causing agents.

Kreider has missed several games during her career at Mennonite while spending time at Hershey Medical Center getting blood transfusions. So she’s an inspiration every time she takes the floor.

Vanderhoff, meanwhile, has also been proactive, setting up fundraisers to help raise money – and awareness – for CLL research.

“What they’re going through,” Mennonite senior guard Dani Zeamer said, “gives you an outlook on life, that’s for sure.”

And what Mennonite’s players do to make life a little easier for Kreider and Vanderhoff is remarkable.

When Kreider has to get blood transfusions in Hershey, her teammates will make the trip to sit and comfort her. And when Vanderhoff asks for help – monetarily or otherwise – her teammates are always there to lend a helping hand or some spare cash for research.

“We’re always there for each other,” Mennonite senior forward Mary Poole said. “And that’s really helped us form a strong bond on the court.”

Which helps explain Mennonite’s 5-0 start.

And Kreider and Vanderhoff, the team’s leading scorer at 10 points a game, have both played big roles in the Blazers’ fast getaway.

“They are struggling with some things,” Mennonite senior guard Melissa Sauder said. “And it’s not on the basketball court. We’re here to help them and to encourage them – especially with things away from the basketball court.”

Away from the court, Vanderhoff has done a yeoman’s effort making her teammates, classmates and Mennonite’s community aware of what her sister is going through.

Last fall, Vanderhoff organized a two-mile walk-a-thon at Greenfield Corporate Center, and raised more than $2,000 for leukemia research.

“I have a drive to help my sister, and I’d do anything I can for her,” Vanderhoff said. “And all of my friends support me. I can always ask them for help. They’ve done a great job for me.”

And will continue to do so.

“We’re all really close, so when one of us is struggling, we want to be there for them, and we’re behind them and we feel their pain,” Mennonite senior guard Kelsey Gorman said. “We’re always here for encouragement.”

Be it by driving to Hershey. Or walking two miles. Or simply taking the time to stop and ask Kreider and Vanderhoff how they’re doing.

“Without my teammates, I wouldn’t be playing basketball,” Kreider said. “They made it worth putting in all the extra work. They’re so encouraging. They made me keep pushing. And I hope we can do the same thing for Katelyn.

“That’s our team: If someone is going through something, we’re there for them. We would do anything for our teammates.”

And that, as you can imagine, makes Kreider and Vanderhoff feel really good.

“When I stop and think about it sometimes, it’s cool that I have all of these friends surrounding me and supporting me,” Vanderhoff said. “It means a lot to me and my sister. I know I play extra hard for my sister. I think about her every time I play.”

Playing is an outlet for Kreider and Vanderhoff. And both have done an excellent job putting any outside obstacles aside and being all business inside the white lines.

“These kids are learning so much about life,” Mennonite coach Sherri Gorman said. “These kids have a much better understanding that life is fragile, and that every day really can be a blessing.”