Kinzley Petersen

Hands Shaking. Hearts pounding. The smell of nervous anticipation in the air. Tryouts. Basketball is a sport that people love to watch but nobody knows how much work it takes to play for the team.
Tryout week is always one of the hardest weeks for athletes not just physically, but mentally. Making varsity is something that every athlete wants to achieve during their highschool career and it is a huge accomplishment to do it as a freshman.
“What I enjoy most about high school basketball is my teammates,” freshman Drew Trofholz said. “I’m able to play with a lot of people from a lot of different grades.”
No matter what sport, teammates are always the most important piece of being successful. Sports wouldn’t function the same without teammates and the bonds that come with playing the game.
“What I like about high school basketball is the team bonding we did, “ freshman Nora Johnson said. “I made a lot of friends from it.”
Team bonding is always a key factor to making the chemistry on the team strong. Team sports are better for all the players when they can be themselves and everyone is inclusive with each other.
“It was really fun having everyone support you and getting close with the upperclassmen,” freshman Avery Krause said. “It’s an entirely different atmosphere.”
Every freshman is always looking up to an upperclassmen in a sport that they play even if they aren’t friends. When freshmen are able to have a close bond with the upperclassman it makes it easier for them to enjoy playing.
“My favorite thing that I got to experience was being able to sit on the bench and eventually go to the Color of Hope game,” Trofholz said. “It was a really fun atmosphere because the band was really loud and everyone was getting into the game.”
Every freshman remembers the first time they got to play on varsity. Whether they got to start or they got to come in at the end of the game it is a memory that stays with them forever.
“One of my favorite things from this season was when we won our first district game,” Johnson said. “We got to soak the coaches with our waters in the locker room.”
Winning big games is a huge part of the season especially having the opportunity to make it to state. Every athlete dreams of winning the state championship but only a few get to do it, and making it to the district championship is a huge accomplishment.
“The best thing I got to experience was the district championship game,” Krause said. “Even though we lost, we were all hyped and just super happy before the game even started. It was really nice to see, having everyone rely and trust each other.”
Even though losing the district championship isn’t what the girl’s team wanted, they still fought hard the entire season to make it there. It is always fun for the freshman to watch and compete with the team all season. Without a doubt being a freshman on varsity is a huge accomplishment and it takes a lot of hard work to accomplish that.