Underclassmen Take Charge: The varsity girls basketball team’s dynamic and culture has shifted due to the majority of players being underclassmen.

In the fourth game of their season, the girls varsity basketball team could finally smile when the final buzzer rang. The past three rings of the bell had all signaled losses. Tonight was different though, with a 52-49 win over Gardner-Edgerton. As soon as senior Tess Roman heard the roar of the crowd, a huge sigh of relief swept over her. Maybe the newly-built team would be alright after all.

Coming off of a 0-3 start for the season, the team was hungry for a win, particularly after having to play three top five teams in the Sunflower league to start off the season. They credit the win to working in unity — something they’ve been trying to ingrain into one another since the beginning of the season. Especially after losing eight strong seniors who graduated last year, it was extremely important for the team to work together and not just rely on older players to carry them to victory, according to sophomore team captain Abigail Long.

While the team has members from all four grades, the majority of it is made up of underclassmen. 

“Having this younger team taught everyone to come together as a varsity team and grow a closer bond,” Roman said.

Roman has been playing varsity since her freshmen year, and feels like this is the first time she has felt close with every player on the team. When she was an underclassmen, Roman felt that the seniors in leadership roles didn’t care about the relationships on the team

“The upperclassmen thought of themselves as superior,” Roman said. “So I never got to create a good friendship or bond with them.” 

Now that Roman is a senior and one of the two team captains, she wants to make sure that the underclassmen feel welcome and have a better experience than she did. Whether that means inviting them to get food after practice or sending funny inside jokes to the basketball group chat, Roman does her best to engage with all of the girls both in and out of practice.

Roman believes that having a good relationship with her teammates will not only build chemistry on the basketball court, but lasting friendships that players can have for seasons to come.

“The first two weeks of practice this year were spent figuring out the drills and learning the plays,” Roman said. “Whereas last year everyone knew the plays and drills, so if you were new you had to figure it out on your own.” 

Roman isn’t the only one who had to step up and become a leader on the team this year. Long was the only freshman to play on the varsity team in the 2020-2021 season.

The team last year consisted of almost all seniors, so Abigail has felt pressure to step up. She did so by going over offense drills in her free time, shooting whenever she had extra time in practice and cheering on the team.

“Playing with people that are four years older than you is always very intimidating,” Long said. “They know what to expect, but as a freshman, you don’t really know what’s going to happen.” 

Abigail hopes that in the seasons to come there will be more upperclassmen to help lead the team. She also plans to create a unique and close team dynamic by building off of how close the team bond was this year. She strives to make sure no underclassmen or new players feel like the odd one out.

The head coach of the team, Douglas Archer, is in his second year in the position and has made it his main goal to make sure every player is involved in the process of making the team a consecutive playoff contender, and wants every player to feel comfortable, no matter their age. 

Archer also reads quotes from a sports psychology book before every practice to help motivate the players and keep them mentally engaged in every practice. By reading quotes about hard work, body language and teamwork, Archer believes the girls can get better everyday.

“I told all the players at the beginning of the season, ‘I’m not expecting you to be perfect players,’’’ Archer said. “I think that helped put their minds at ease.” 

Archer plans to keep building on the culture of this team that encourages contributions from everybody. By doing this, he hopes they can grow as not only basketball players, but also as people. 

“We are trying to help them in the process of being leaders and also develop qualities of resilience and hard work,” Archer said. “Those are things that you’re going to need throughout your entire life.”