West Springfield High School Newspaper

The Oracle

West Springfield High School Newspaper

The Oracle

West Springfield High School Newspaper

The Oracle

SYC basketball: an outlet for many students

The guy dribbles the ball, shoots, and scores the three-pointer! And the crowd goes crazy…just kidding the five exhausted parents slowly clap their hands.

That’s pretty much the deal with SYC basketball games. It starts when the winter sports season do in the month of December every year lasting in till about mid February.

“Practice is only once a week, and games are only once a week, so it doesn’t take up a lot of your time,” said senior Cody Cashman, who is playing SYC this winter.

A numerous amount of boys and girls from WS who may find the school’s basketball teams a little too intense or who want to play a sport just for the enjoyment, may try and play club.

Story continues below advertisement

“I used to swim but I stopped, and now to occupy my time I thought I would play basketball this season with [my friend] Summer just for fun,” said senior Celine Donohue.

 Many of the guys who play club during the winter have been doing it since they were much younger and even find it a tradition to do it every year. A lot of them may not be good enough to play on their high school team but they still love to go out there and just have fun.  

“I played high school basketball last year, but I wanted to play SYC this year so I could focus on baseball,” said junior Zach Jarrett. “All my friends play SYC and it’s not that competitive, so it’s fun.”

Some people think since the stands are never filled with as much people as at high school games, there is no point in participating club.

That maybe some people’s opinion but to other people like former and current seniors Lee Gleason and Luis Lester may think different.

This season as part of their senior Capstone Project, they decided to help give back to their community by coaching their own U-10 basketball team named, The Otters. Unfortunately, Lester and Gleason got the last pick of the draft for their team, but that doesn’t stop them from being negative. They feel a lot of the game is about the coaching and it is not as easy as it may look.

“Part of what we have to do is create practice plans, call the parents to let them know that their child has made the team and how excited we are to coach them, create snack plans, and much more,” said Lester

Both of these men thought coaching club this season would be pleasurable since they both knew how it feels to play on a club team when they were little. Those years of club never were forgotten but became amusing memories they will keep for a long time.

“I played last year and I made it rain, and this year I just want to continue my legacy,” said Gleason.

More to Discover