Hands Up Defense

By LeAnn Becker

A change was made to put freshmen on the reseNe basketball team Years before freshmen were on the freshmen team , and sophmores on the reserve team Varsity and JV teams were free game for advanced players. Despite what peop le would think the players got along great . "If they are g oo d enough to play I don't see any problems," said Ryan Wiess There are two freshmen on the team now and no co mp lic ations have come up

Before the game starts Coach Mercer writes up key plays He pu shes fo r defense, easy layups, and if possible, the clean br e a ks He also stresses on sprinting back and gett ing ready t o play hard aga in

Th e de f ense was great and proved the team well. "Defense w orks so well because of the team unity, " said Adam Sc h o ll. Befo re every game the team stands in a circle and says, "De it up bla c k huh!!" This got the team ready to work hard.

So me o f the players would wear their socks the same way until they would lose a game, or even have a terrible practice .

While they were on the court they needed to think about wh o the ir man was, and where to be Travis Ford, freshman , th o ugh t about playing good. His hopes were always high because he was confident with the teams ability That c onfidence kept the team going strong. They got along and at t imes when the adrenaline was high they were reminded o f their main purpose--having fun