Boys and Girls Basketball Start the Season Strong
By Stella Chilcote, Reporter

Boys Basketball

Starting off strong with 4 overall wins, both the junior varsity and varsity boys’ basketball team are working hard, putting in effort, and showing commitment to the team.

The varsity team lost five seniors last year who took lots of talent with them, but the coaches are excited to see who fills those roles. There are four senior players on the varsity team, along with a full roster. This year, seven new freshmen players join junior varsity and are adapting well to the high school basketball environment.

Head coach Andy Sears has been working with the team to find the right system for them to grow and learn with. So far, the players have had a positive attitude and a strong growth mindset. Sears works hard to connect with the players in order to make them feel more comfortable on the team.

“Something Sears says a lot is, ‘It’s being a part of something that’s bigger than yourself,’” senior varsity player Jeremiah Bogaard said. “It’s not ‘I did this’ but ‘We did this as a team.’”
The team’s goal is to never stop growing and learning, always getting better.

“I just hope we’re working hard, keep[ing up] a lot of enthusiasm and [having] fun along the way,” Sears said, “I want them to enjoy playing basketball with each other and enjoy each others company, and if we do those things, then we’ll have a great season.”

Girls Basketball

This season, the girls basketball team is mostly composed of younger players, with only seven playing solely for varsity, and three others participating as swingers. Four seniors left the team last year, and Ella Wheeler is the only senior on the team this year. Looking back, she has fond memories of her previous seasons.

“My favorite part of playing basketball is the relationships I’ve been able to make throughout these years,” Wheeler said.

Wheeler is currently injured, however, putting more pressure on the rest of the team. Despite this, the girls basketball team has started off strong with a constructive outlook.

“We’re really young, really short, and it’s definitely going to be a struggle. We’re just going to have to work really hard to be able to compete with some of the other teams in the league.” Said Wheeler.

Because of their young players and small roster, the team plans to focus on conditioning over speed and height, advantages for the seasoned teams they’ll be up against. The team is working on speeding up plays and learning to work together with all the new players. Above all, though, they aim to keep a positive attitude.

“I don’t care if we do poorly or whatever the scoreboard says, I’m just excited for all of us to work really hard and play really competitive games no matter how hard our competition is,” Wheeler said.