With the shutdown of Greenwood High School before Christmas break and over half of the school week of January 10th, the boys and girls basketball teams came to a halt. As a result of the shutdowns, practices stopped and some games were rescheduled. The setbacks the basketball teams faced, from Greenwood High School going remote, should not go unnoticed; on the grounds that they each stepped up and overcame the obstacles that stood in their way.
To grasp a better understanding of the setbacks the teams faced, there is no one better to ask than the head coach of the boy’s basketball team, Mr. Gantt, and the head coach of the girl's basketball team, Mr. Dietz.
The teams seemed to face similar challenges dealing with preparation for their games. Mr. Gantt stated that, “...it was more difficult for the younger kids, and trying to get them up to speed with the offense, the defense and the systems we run. This was one of the bigger challenges, but also just the conditioning, keeping conditioning, and getting prepared in general.”
Similar to Mr. Gantt’s statement, Mr. Deitz expressed, “The biggest inconvenience was that we identified a bunch of things that we felt like we needed to work on and get better with and felt like we were making progress to becoming good, and then we had to stop.”
Though the hardships could have been a stumbling block, the basketball teams refused to be defeated. Coach Deitz commented on this saying, “I think our players overcame the setbacks. The players understood the situation we were in and their attitudes and the way they’re handling themselves and holding each other accountable; knowing that the time we have in here [the gym] may be limited…We just kind of put the pieces out there for them and they've done the rest."
Both of the coaches acknowledged the senior leadership on their teams, and the great role the seniors played over the time of the shutdown. Mr. Gantt made this known, “I think we have good senior leaders...and they set good examples for the younger kids.”
Mr. Deitz, also touching on this subject, added, “I’m very proud of our senior class, I’m proud of all of them, but
our senior class, in particular, has really matured and embraced the idea of going after everything we need to go after.”
Looking forward to the future of their seasons, the coaches are excited to have the opportunity to watch their players play the game they love. In the words of Coach Gantt, “I think that anytime we can get a game in this year we should be excited about it.”
Update: As of now the boy's team stands at 6-0, and the girl's team stands at 3-4.