I sat down with the coach of the boys’ basketball team, Barry Wortman, halfway through their season to see how they are doing. We talked about aspirations for the season and their progress so far. 

What are you looking forward to this season? 

“Well, we are halfway through our season, 12-4, and I’m really excited about what we can do. Our team is really connected and together, playing hard and for each other so I’m really pleased with where our team is right now.” 

How is team dynamics this year? 

“Our dynamics are really good; I think we’re a selfless team that plays for each other. Our chemistry is really nice, the guys like each other. They are a joy to coach, so our dynamics are really good.” 

Do you have any pregame rituals to prevent bad luck? 

“We do, we are pretty creatures of habit, whether we are on the road or at home we have what we call a pre-pregame that we do for about 30 minutes that sort of prepares us. We start with stretching and then we do some things to get a good lather and sweat to get our team ready. Then we will go in a watch a little edit tape and cover the other team a little bit and then any last things we might do to prepare for the team. Then we go out and have our 15-minute warmup before we actually go out to the game.”  

Do you feel the team has grown? 

“Yes, our team really has grown, it is a bunch of guys, and it should grow. I feel all teams should grow ,but I really feel like this team has made a nice jump. Not only in our play but in our mental and physical preparation.” 

How many have been talking about going to college and playing basketball? 

“We only have one Senior on the team, Isaiah Divens, but he will definitely be playing college basketball at some level. Then we have a lot of guys in our program that we think have the potential to play college basketball.” 

Who do you think we should look out for this season? 

“We just sort of do it by committee. We think everybody in our program can check in a game and help impact the game in a positive way. I think that everybody in our varsity program can impact the team.” 

How do you feel the team will do this year? 

“I like where we are, we are starting district play right now and we have had a good non-conflict schedule. Everything has prepared us well. It’s a good district with a lot of good teams. We are going to have to start shooting free throws better, we are going to have to rebound it better. But those are things we have been improving on, and I do think we have a chance to play district and continue to improve and become a better basketball team and have a chance to be there when it is all said and done here in March.” 

What’s the team’s greatest strength on the court? 

“It sounds a little corny, but I well think that our chemistry is probably our biggest strength. We really do play for each other, share the ball, our assistant field goals is a high rate. I do like our chemistry of our team; I think that is one of our biggest strengths.” 

Do you have any words of encouragement? 

“Just it’s awfully hard to stay together in anything you do in life and our biggest thing is I encourage our team to be disciplined every day and stay the course and try to get a little bit better every day.”