With fall sports officially wrapped up, winter sports are now in full swing, including the highly anticipated Girls and Boys Varsity Basketball seasons. To give readers a glimpse into what’s ahead, I interviewed players from both teams as they shared insights about their preparations, reflections on last season, and their goals for the upcoming games.
To learn about the Berkley Girls Varsity Basketball team, I interviewed two senior captains: Madi Bonsall and Hailey Kirkwood. When asked about their team’s last season, Bonsall shared that it “was good and a lot of fun! I liked bonding with the team on and off of the court!” Kirkwood added on, “Last season, we won 19 games and lost six games. I think our record showcased how hard we worked and this year we hope to have a similar, if not better, record.”
When asked how changes since last season may lead to success this season, Kirkwood shared that “Over the summer, we went to a team camp and worked very hard. We have never gone to a team camp before, so that was something new we did.” Bonsall added on, saying, “We are working very hard to get better as a team this year, and hopefully we can win districts!”
Shifting from last season to this season, when asked about what their preseason looks like, Bonsall shared, “We do open gyms that our players lead as well as team conditioning three times a week after school.” Kirkwood added, “We have also been putting in the work during preseason, so we hope that it pays off.” Bonsall expressed that this season, she’s looking forward to “team dinners, growing together as a team, and creating strong friendships with one another.”
As the Berkley Girls Varsity Basketball team worked hard to prepare for their upcoming season, the boys’ team has also gotten ready for their upcoming season. In order to learn more about the Berkley Boys Varsity Basketball team’s efforts, I interviewed two senior captains: Evan Haenick and Sam Niyo.
When asking Haenick how their last season went, he expressed, “It went very well, we worked well as a team together. Although it didn’t end the way we wanted, we had a good time overall.” Niyo added, “We had a good season, we finished with 14 wins and nine losses. At the end of the season, we lost in the district championship to Groves, who had a really good team.”
On a more positive note, Haenick shared that he is looking forward to “playing with new players and growing as a team together.”
When asked how changes since last season may lead to success this season, Haenick shared that they brought in a “new assistant coach, Devin Watson, who brings a lot of energy and is a great new addition to the program.” Niyo revealed that he thinks, “this preseason we have focused a lot more on having good team chemistry and we have all formed special friendships with each other. We are all looking forward to this season and having a cohesive team.” Haenick also describes the preseason more in depth, “preseason starts in the summer, where we have summer league training all through June. This is when we scrimmage teams from all around us.”
Shifting from the summer preseason to the fall preseason, Niyo added that the team has, “open gyms from September all the way up until tryouts, which are at the end of November.” Towards the end of the preseason, Haenick added that the team “had two weeks of conditioning practices that were run by the coaches.” Haenick stated that he believes that “the team has worked very hard since the summer to improve our skills and we hope that it shows on the court.”
Towards the end of November, in preparation for the season, for the first time both the Girls Varsity Basketball team and the Boys Varsity Basketball team participated in a special event together. The event was a great way for both Varsity teams to get to know each other and play together. According to Haenick, “The event consisted of a three-point contest, a skills competition, and a girls and boys inter-squad scrimmage.” Providing more details about the event, captain of the Berkley Girls Varsity Basketball team, Hailey Kirkwood explained, “For the skills competition, there were four different teams that were made up of both boys and girls. The competition involved making shots from many different areas of the court. After that, we did a scrimmage where the boys would play one quarter and the girls would play the next quarter and the scores would overlap. Finally, after the event, we got a group picture with both teams!” Bonsall added, The event seemed to be a success, and many friends and family came to show their support!
Both teams have displayed their dedication to their teams by putting in the work during the preseason. They have improved their skills and relationships both on and off the court, and we can’t wait to see what they will accomplish this year. Best of luck to both teams during their season, and Go Bears!
