That feeling is none other than the start of basketball season.
I’ve always held a special attachment to the game of basketball. It’s the only game that you don’t need others to play. Throughout my lifetime it’s provided a great release and joy that hasn’t left me, well, at least not at this point in my 20 years on earth. And just like with football season, I’m fortunate enough to be able to be on the Girls Basketball staff here at BHS. With all of that background established, it’s time to get into our mid-(ish) season recap so far with over a month gone.
Starting with the boys, they sit at 9-8 on the season. The early gauntlet is always a tough one for Coach Walton and company. Every year a holiday tournament is played here at BHS which always features great talent. I always loved playing in this tournament dating back to my days with the Boys Basketball team. The atmosphere is always great, and it was always exciting to play teams that we may not be as familiar with. We played in some exciting tournaments throughout my years in the program yet unfortunately we were never able to win the whole thing. That changed this year. The boys took two tremendous victories over Monticello and Eastern Mennonite to claim the title. My good friend Caleb Barnes was named MVP of the tournament and Coach Walton picked up his astronomical 200th career win!
Led by second year Head Coach Jeremy Fulk and his assistants, Janna Grandle, Willie Tinnell, Sarah Wimer and myself, the Gobblers Girls have had a great season to this point and have posted a 10-8 record on the season. The Lady Gobblers have already surpassed the total of victories from last season.
It’s been a wild ride so far admittedly. There are a bunch of nerves that you fight through mentally at the beginning of every season. You wonder to yourself if you’ve done enough personally as a coach to get your kids ready. But the second the first whistle blows you’re off and running. We’ve played in a ton of close games thus far. A couple of which we’ve dropped on the road however, we’ve also won a couple tight games at home to some tough teams.
Racking up a couple great wins against some great teams outside of the area will give us great points in the standings as we inch closer and closer to the Regional Tournament.
Lucas Frank, an 8th grader at J. Frank Hilliard Middle School and a member of the JV Football team here at BHS was recently diagnosed with Leukemia in December. Lucas is a tough kid who I know will fight day and night to come out on top of this horrible disease. The BHS Football Team does their “Gold Out” Football game as a fundraiser for Childhood Cancer, and now that the disease has hit closer to home, we are committed to helping Lucas and his family as they fight this battle.
There are various activities taking place to help Lucas and his family throughout their battle. Coach Grogg has already played a big part in raising money, and other programs in the school and in the community have gotten involved as well. New BHS Varsity Baseball Coach, George Laase, is setting up a Super Bowl Fundraiser and community businesses have hosted fundraisers as well. Continue to be on the lookout for more fundraisers taking place throughout the coming months as Lucas continues his battle.
Read the rest of this article at http://www.gobblerssportsnetwork.com/blog
Ben Elliott graduated from Broadway High School in 2021 and is currently a student at Blue Ridge Community College. In addition, Ben is currently an assistant coach with the Gobblers Football and Girls Basketball teams. During his time at BHS, Ben also served as a manager for the Football, Basketball and Baseball teams and is an avid sports fan. Currently, Ben lives in Broadway.
