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Her love of the game started out around third grade when she was playing for the M&Ms and the Mars Bars. Today, senior forward Tara Steinbauer’s love of the game continues as she suits up for the Wisconsin Badgers.

Watch practice for even five minutes and you know how she feels about being on that floor. She is smiling, laughing or dancing; often a combination of the three. None of this is lost on her teammates.

“Tara teaches me that every day is a new day and to just have fun,” freshman forward Cassie Rochel said. “We could be going really hard but you look over and Tara is having fun; she is always smiling.”

Coaches too can’t get enough of Steinbauer’s energetic and multifaceted personality.

“[She is] a blast to be around; a smiling face, high energy, kind, a very sweet person,” head coach Lisa Stone said. “Probably our toughest player [too]. She is as sweet as a pea off the court, but on the court she will be the first to knock your head off.”

Things were not always as fun for Steinbauer when she first arrived on campus as a freshman. A highly touted recruit from Minnesota, she had grown accustomed to a lot of playing time and deservedly so after averaging 20.0 points, 8.0 rebounds and five assists per game her senior season, en route to being the top-ranked power forward in the state according to the 2006-07 Minnesota High School Girls Basketball guide.

“The biggest thing that I have gotten over is selfishness,” Steinbauer said. “I think coming in, a lot of people we recruit for this team are the best from their towns, their AAU teams, the best from their high school teams, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you’re going to be the best on the team especially as a freshman. I definitely came in with high expectations, thinking that I deserved this and I deserved that and I didn’t.”

Steinbauer discovered that by reflecting on what this sport has meant to her growing up; building a strong relationship with her father, meeting so many of her closest friends and presenting her with collegiate opportunities, that was more than enough to motivate her.

“You have to put a lot of work in to get to where you want to be,” Steinbauer says. “It’s one of our cornerstones. We always talk about servanthood and humility, and I am proud to say after these four years I think I have come away with a much better grasp of what those two words mean.”

Realizing her personal short-comings is just part of the growth and maturation that Steinbauer has undergone in her time dressing for the cardinal and white.

She also gives a lot of credit to her coaches and teammates for helping make her the player and person she is today.

“College basketball is hard, it’s a grind, and you come in and cry a lot and laugh a lot, but at the end of the day it’s my teammates and my coaches that have made it so special and such an enjoyable experience for me,” Steinbauer said.

The respect Steinbauer has for her teammates is reciprocal. Alyssa Karel, fellow senior and friend since grade school, knows this team would not be the same without Steinbauer.

“She is a powerful motivator; I don’t know if she knows how much impact she has on the team. When Tara is up it is hard not to jump on her back and go with her,” Karel says. “Her toughness on the court is like none that I have ever seen. I am just impressed by it; she goes hard all the time.”

Nobody is going to want to see Steinbauer go after the season, but it is part of the game.

With one class coming in another must go.

“She has been a part of our family and it has been fun watching her grow up,” Stone said. “It’s going to be sad to see her graduate because she brings a smile to many people’s face.”

After all the hard work, fun, effort, smiling, exertion and dancing, Steinbauer still likes to cap it all off by heading to the Kohl Center at 10 p.m. and shooting jumpers. She said she likes a good mix tape playing the back ground. What is the first song on the playlist?

“No Scrubs by TLC,” she said.

Just more fun for Tara.