Just like any other team sport, in basketball, communication is key. With a new generation of players, issues can arise from a lack of that communication.

Having played basketball long before her freshman year, Senior Bri Mason’s love for the sport has remained strong. With a lot of younger players joining the varsity team this year, however, Mason feels that communicating with some of her team has become difficult. 

“This year we have a really young team,” Mason said. “I’m a senior and I’m used to a lot of things that they aren’t used to. It’s hard to adjust with that, and it’s mostly sophomores. They’re new to this and I’m new to playing with most of the younger people. We’re both just kind of trying to figure out how to make it work.”

These concerns aren’t just contained to the girls team, as the boys team is facing similar problems. Senior Keith Johnson has played basketball nearly all his life, and after dropping the sport to play football for a time, he’s back to the game he started with. This season though, Johnson feels the team is dealing with communication problems.

“There’s been a lot of struggles. I would just say it’s the chemistry, really. There’s a bunch of new players, and a lot of people are graduating. One of our main seniors got hurt, and so it’s really just been chemistry problems with the new players,” Johnson said.

That’s not to say there isn’t optimism within the teams. Players are looking to get over these struggles and make their team stronger than ever.

“Hopefully we can build and turn around to get a better foundation for the coming years,” Johnson said. “Obviously that’s a good thing to look at, for the younger generation. I’ll just say I’m looking forward to turning the record around.”