Freshman basketball players love their experience, despite the early practices and time commitment. Their grades aren’t suffering either. In fact some students feel they are trying even harder in school to be able to play.

A team full of friends, a strong level play, support and passionate coaches are some of the great benefits of playing high school basketball according to these freshman players.  A conflict in schedules may be one of the cons according to some of this years players, but players enjoy their level of play.

“We’re really good,” says Trevor Dean.

“I have a lot of friends on the team,” teammate Mitchell Campbell says. He also agrees with Dean on the team’s ability.

On the girls side it is nothing but unity and togetherness- they are like a family and their motto is “we before me” explains Zoe Ansboro.

“Everyone’s really nice [and] the coaches are great,” Annika Schoner says. “It’s a way to meet new people.”

Another plus is the motivation in school.

“If anything, I try harder because I have to keep my grades up to be on the basketball team,” notes Dean when talking about how his grades haven’t dropped.

With two games a week and three  practice for the girls, and four for the boys, their schedules are full. However, this doesn’t get in the way of their school life.

Schoner notes she “can look forward to it at the end of the day or sometimes the beginning of the day,” laughing when mentioning the early session. She says it’s “refreshing.”

According to Campbell, “they’re all positives” in playing basketball, even though their days are packed and “it’s hard to wake up at 5 am for practice.”

Sometimes players have to leave school early for away games. Usually, their games are later, though sometimes that is not the case. Some play multiple games a day, when swinging up to play on JV or varsity.

 When asked who Schoner looks up to, she immediately answers  “everyone” and says the strong relationships between teams builds a great environment.

Jasmine Bieniek explains how she feels that teammates are “all supportive of one another and trying to get better.” One way she describes her team and coaching staff is “passionate,” which helps make playing even more fun.

“You don’t have to only be with freshmen or sophomores,” says Bienek when sharing how the basketball community lets you progress based on her skill rather than your age.

When describing the older players Ansbro says “you get to learn a lot from them because they’ve been playing basketball longer.” The boys varsity team has gone 6-17 this year and the girls varsity have gone 6-15.

They love their team. The coaches are good. They want to do better in school. All the positives are not enough to cancel out the few negatives for the freshman basketball players. Not even close.