During all of the 2020-2021 season the stands at A-West boy’s basketball games were remarkably empty due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This season also happened to overlap with more restrictive protocols, school was largely remote causing many students to be unaware of basketball’s season in general. 

Understandably, the lack of a student section affected the players, Senior Colton Schwien remarks “It was weird playing last year with no fans. You had to find a way to hype yourself up extra and manufacture energy for the team because there wasn’t that extra boost of energy that we get from the crowd.”

Coming into the 2021-2022 season however, the stands are full of students again and the spotlight is once again on the players. The boy’s season opened Tuesday, November 30th with a game against the Horizon Eagles. As the first game of the season, and the first game the students have seen since winter of 2020, the game served to set a precedent for the varsity team. 

The score was close for a majority of the game, the A-West team and Horizon continuously swapping who was leading. We played well, keeping the score tied 12-12 at the end of the first quarter, and only trailing by a few points going into the second half. Not only was it the first game back, the varsity team was missing some key players.

Schwien says “It was challenging playing with just seven, we were missing two key players to injury and one was sick. We hope to get everyone back for the game this friday.”

Ultimately the A-West team lost with a score of 59-47. Despite the loss, the boys played well and continued to fight until the ending buzzer. Senior Jonas Gueldner recounts, “We have a lot to learn from that game. We have all the skills to have a winning season, we just need to pull it all together”

Going into the next game held on Friday, December 3rd it’s clear the team will play their best. The game will be against Westminster, and win or lose the players will focus on playing well, showing they’re good at their sport and deserve their spot on the court. 

Gueldner says “I’m feeling a lot more confident. We can’t worry about how good the opponent is, we just got to focus on executing our stuff.”