Four grade-based teams will compete in the school’s annual basketball tournament in March. Round one of the tournament will be on March 25 when the freshmen go against the juniors while the sophomores will compete with the seniors. The victors of these two matchups will move forward to compete in the final round on March 28.
Eli Lopez, a 9th grade coach, motivates his team with reassurance. “I have won a tournament before. I take the game seriously,” he said. “I remind them to be the best version of themselves.”
Lopez prepares his team by putting them in game scenarios and practicing with free throws to tighten up their skills.
“Clap once whenever people mess up and clap twice if they make it,” said Oliver Rivera, a ninth grader, who admits how he motivates his teammates. That way the students find mistakes as a team and only get motivated to do better.
Karnpreet Singh, a sophomore, feels that his team’s small size will not stop them from winning the game. “The capacity size for our team is not the greatest,” he said.
He and his team are working and practicing hard for the match. “We may have a small team but we have a big heart,” he said.
“I do 100 pushups and and 100 tricep dips every night to get stronger,” said Austin Zhu, a junior, who faces the challenge of waking up at 6:40 a.m. to attend practice. He prepares himself by practicing in and outside of school.
Adrian Morel, a senior, also faces the challenge of waking up early for practice. His main goal is to win the tournament and comfort his teammates. “My goal as a point guard is to make everyone on the court comfortable and to boost my teammates’ confidence,” he said.
The freshmen team members are Bryce Carryl, Aaron Rodriguez, Burhan Ahmed, Carlos Saenz, Erik Crooks, Jordan Archibald, Jose DeJesus, Justin Zhu, Kayden Perez, Oliver Rivera, Ralph Guzman and Rayniel Linares. Eli Lopez and Daniel Herguth are the coaches.
The sophomore team’s players are Aaron Rodriguez, Al Sharhan, Diosbeni Rojas, Dylan Clementi, Justin Scott, Karnpreet Singh and Ndiaga Seck. The coaches are Marco Pompa and Rafith Mannan.
The junior team members are Adam Lococo, Austin Zhu, Jamal Quinones, Jeury Mota, Jose Figueroa, Kassim Sanogo and Mustapha Drammeh. Coach Gaynor will lead the team.
The senior team features Adrian More, Allan Gomez, Aziz Dumbuya, Damnion Kelly Jr., Jabdiel Alicea, Jhonluis Feliz, Joel Aguilar, Justin Diaz Arias, Karte Flower, Kevin Carvente, Leonardo Burgos and Ruben Santiago. The coaches are Joseph Shinn and Rich Himed.
Tene Kelly, the assistant principal, gives her final message: “We’ll see if this year’s seniors break the curse of intelligibility this year.”
