As time ticked away, tick tock tick tock, fans could feel the desperation on the court. They cheered on each team while the basketball players ran the court, bouncing and passing the ball to each other as their shoes squeaked. The crowd got anxious as ten seconds appeared on the board. Right as the player shot, the board buzzed.

The Boys’ and Girls’ Basketball teams have challenges they have to overcome in order to be successful.

“As a coach, we must focus on putting people in the right positions and coaching them up on how to win,” Coach Fonville said. “Sometimes, it takes more than talent to win. It takes mental toughness and that is often difficult to coach.”

Aside from coaching the teams, the Coaches have other every day challenges to deal with.

“The managing aspect of the team is the biggest challenge,” Coach Hinkle said. “Taking care of all the paperwork, meal monies, ordering shoes, getting t-shirts, and getting the buses are my greatest challenge. Just allow me to coach.”

Basketball players may not manage or coach the teams, but they do play a big role in keeping everyone positive for every game.

“My biggest challenge of the season has been keeping my attitude positive through all the bad,” Tamia Knauls, 8th, said.

Each team has a unique style in preparing for games.

“Before games, we pray and start turning up to get hype for the game,” Anthony Travis, 9th, said.

The coaches have different strategies as well.

“We try to break down each phase of the game in practice to give the girls understandings of how to play the game,” Coach Wallace said. “The lessons we learn are really about life and how to work hard and be determined to overcome adversity.”

As for the boys’ teams, Coach Hinkle feels optimistic.

“We have two returning starters from last year who played a big role in the success of our conference title last year,” Coach Hinkle said. “We also have several other young men with valuable basketball experience that will help us pursue our goal of winning another conference title.”