By CHANEY SMITH
Sheridan High School Student
Editor’s Note: The Sheridan Student Column is brought to readers by Sheridan High School’s 10th grade English class, taught by Abby Williams.
Playing basketball at a small school has its pros and cons. I am a sophomore on the Sheridan girls basketball team. Being at a small school has given me the opportunity to work hard enough to get a starting spot on the varsity team. I start along with two juniors, Riley Reed and Taylor Bates, and two seniors, Lillie Dickerson and Allie Delph. Playing with the older girls has taught me a lot about teamwork, hustle, and endurance. They are always trying to make the younger kids better by pushing us as hard as they were pushed. Being able to scrimmage against them in practice every day makes it easier when we are going into a game. The speed and talent that my teammates have very rarely match up against our opponents.
Practicing against the same people becomes harder once everyone learns the plays because then they try to cheat on defense. That makes the offense have to work harder and improvise with the plays, which leads to multiple different options in the plays. Since we are a smaller school, we only have 15 to 16 players on a good day. That makes it hard to have a full junior varsity and varsity squad. Some kids are swing players and play both. Due to injuries this year, however, many of the junior varsity games got canceled, and it was just varsity. That let the swing players have more quarters for varsity.
With a coach, Jaidlin Delph, who came right out of college ball, we are pushed very hard. Along with a great coaching staff, and basketball knowledge we learn new things every day. She has watched us all play in middle school games, so she knows the potential that we show, and she strives every day to make us better. She puts in so much effort into scouting for future games and into making sure we know the personnel of who we are guarding. With this effort we are able to go into the game ready and prepared for most things that other teams are going to do, offensively and defensively.
Basketball this year has taught me how to play as a team, not as an individual. Being able to play at such a competitive level has pushed me out of my comfort zone. It has made me do things I did not know I would ever achieve. I highly recommend playing basketball especially if you are at a small school.