On Wed. 25, the boys basketball program hosted a jamboree with St. Mary’s, St. Genevieve and Hillsboro High School. The varsity team won two out of the three games, with a hard loss against Hillsboro.
“We were pleasantly surprised with how well we played, but I will say our last game against Hillsboro we thought that we didn’t have the fight that we needed to, so we need to work on that,” coach Nicholas Traxler said.
The start of a season for any sport can lead to people not knowing each other, along with needing to learn the different types of plays and how each person plays under pressure.
“I think basketball is very much a team sport,” Max Simokaitis (9) said. “You kind of have to be close with everyone, so if they know you well, then they know how you play so you can be on the same page.”
Getting to know and be comfortable around teammates can take a while. Luckily for the players, they had months before the official season to be able to get used to the different people and settings.
“Over the summer we’ve played about 30 games. We did three days a week workouts, and in the fall we came in three mornings every week from 5:45 to 7 a.m.,” Traxler said. “The boys put in a lot of time and effort, including the incoming freshmen, so we were very happy about that.”
This year, however, there is a slight difference in the roster due to there not being any seniors in the program.
“[I did not play this year because] I would like to be a pilot when I am older and so I am going to focus more of my time on studying and school instead…” Lucas Bentrup (12) said. “I miss the guys and the family part of it, but I still talk to them about it.”
With there being no seniors on the team, the coaches have picked people on the team who they thought would exemplify strong team leadership: juniors Tanner Anderson, Logan Scholz, Pierce Bauman and DJ McDonald.
“We created a leadership council, and the four players that have stepped up into those roles [are] because of how much time and effort they put in throughout the summer…” Traxler said.
Starting the season, the juniors have the most experience with being in the program before. They have not only been around to play, but to also be role models for the underclassmen.
“I have a little bit of varsity experience. I played varsity a little my freshman year and a pretty good amount sophomore year,” McDonald said. “I am pretty experienced, so I can teach the guys some things and I can help them out with a lot since I have been here (on the team) longer.”
Along with the leadership council, the program has coaches to teach and motivate the freshman, JV and varsity teams to play their best.
“They (the coaches) motivate us and push us every day…” Bauman said. “That helps improving and working as a team.”
Playing a sport is not only playing with other people for fun, it takes dedication, time and willingness to push yourself.
“Definitely have an idea of what you want to get out of it (basketball) and go in and work hard. That will be recognized even if you aren’t good,” Bentrup said. “I would not worry about which team you are on, and I would just grind it out.”
This year, with all the hard work the teams have been putting in to prepare for the official games of the year, they could be looking forward to a well-played season.
“We are looking to be ultra-competitive…” Traxler said. “With the juniors and sophomores that we have, we just want to go out and compete every night.”
