Winter sports often take traditionally outdoor activities indoors, such as swim and wrestling through the coldest months of the year, and basketball is a part of this list. The girls basketball players are staying warm by practicing hard for games, trying to get into playoffs, and hopefully winning the championship for Berlin.
“Our practices are going to be a lot harder, and we’ll have to run a lot more to get us fully in shape and ready to go. We’re just gonna have to be pushed a lot harder and be focused,” post player Lillian Johnson said.
With practices becoming tougher for the girls team, the athletes have been hard at work with other individual improvements throughout the season.
“I’m trying to use my left hand more, in general, because I really struggle with that. Also, I’m trying to get better at my jump shot, because I’m struggling with that, too,” point guard Ahzayla Bell said.
Players on the team are not only trying to improve for the future, as they also have been becoming accustomed to a new way of coaching. Since last year’s coach stepped down, a new coach was hired to lead the team this season.
“I coached here in the past and have always loved the school and culture, and when I saw that the position was open, I was immediately interested and applied,” varsity girls coach Eric Hacker said.
Being a new coach to a completely different team isn’t something to look down upon. Hacker has been hard at work training and practicing with the girls to help them be the best they can be as a team.
“We are trying to work on this season playing faster and really trying to develop complete basketball players. We have come so far already, I can’t wait to see how much better we continue to get as a team,” Hacker said.
Even with their season record of 3-10, the team is still powering through together with every win and loss.
“They were really welcoming for me to be on varsity, because I was one of the only freshmen on the team. They were just really welcoming to me, and we all just get along, so it’s nice,” Bell said.
Community on a team is one of the best qualities to have, and especially for Berlin’s girls basketball team. The team realized this very quickly before the season even started.
“We don’t do a “big sister” and “little sister” thing, but I feel like we’re very strongly connected, and we all know each other pretty well because we’ve all been playing sports together for so long. It’s also easier to be connected with a smaller number of us,” Johnson said.
The girls basketball team and their coach keeps working hard at practices so that they can excel in the playoffs.
“We have a few more weeks before the playoffs start and will continue to compete and try to prepare for that one day at a time, and hope to extend our season as long as we can,” Hacker said.
