WILLIS HALL HERALD ONLINE
  • Home
  • News
    • Head of School Armistead Lemon
  • Sports 2022-23
  • Features
    • Profiles >
      • Student Profiles
      • New Teacher Profiles
      • Leadership Profiles
      • Seniors: Class of 2021
      • Seniors: Class of 2022
  • GEOPRISM
  • Opinion
  • Arts
    • Scary Stories
    • April Fools Day
  • Print Issues
  • Photos
    • Homecoming
  • Ads
  • Staff
    • Aadeetri Pandey '26
    • Anne Bradley Cullen '26
    • Antonio Mack '26
    • Brock Miles '24
    • Dat Bui '23
    • Didi Dibetle '24
    • Eason Zhou '24
    • Gracean Ratliff '23
    • Hania Raza '24
    • Helen Hertz '24
    • Jiale Qin '26
    • Kenzie Raub '24
    • Lam Do '26
    • Massoki Maka '23
    • Nhi Le '25
    • Rabia Ferron '26
    • Rowan Anderson '26
    • Tristan Lange '26
    • Veronica Weston '26
    • Robert Robillard
  • Resources
  • News Archive
    • Coronavirus
    • Student Profiles
    • Teacher Profiles
    • Sports 2021-22 >
      • Football: State Champs

Raider Review: Sports

Varsity girls basketball program put on the shelf for the year

1/15/2015

0 Comments

 
By Tanner Smith
   As William Shakespeare wrote  in his famous play King Richard III, “Now is the winter of our discontent.”
   The same could be applied to those wishing to see a varsity girls basketball team in 2014-2015, as the school decided to put the varsity program on a hiatus for this year. Athletic Director Eric Lawrence wishes that they could have fielded a team this year, but feels this is best for the future.
   “We simply didn’t have enough upperclassmen to offer any kind of competitive team,” he said. “We want to make sure the girls have a positive experience so we thought it was better to back up and regroup and work on building the program.”
   There are many reasons that people decide not to play sports, such as a heavy academic workload or injuries. Sarah Shaff (’15), who played varsity basketball since she was a freshman and averaged 5.4 rebounds per game last year, thinks the lack of interest is multidimensional. 
   “It is a mixture of both our record and people not wanting to play,” she said.“We never had a very good record and people just don’t want to play if their friends decide not to play.”
   While there was not enough girls interested to field a team, Shaff is very sad to not be able to play her senior year, even if the team has only fielded a 28-42 record in her three years, including a 8-13 record last year.
   “I was really sad when I heard that there wouldn’t be a team,” she said. “I was sad that I had played without even knowing that it was my last game.”
   Katie Sayers, a 6-2 senior who averaged 1.5 blocks per game last year, had mixed feelings when she heard that there was not going to be a team.
   “I was kind of upset because I do love playing basketball,” she said. “At the same time I was kind of relived because I am hurt and I would be upset to have to sit on the bench while watching everyone else play.”
   Sayers is suffering through a cracked sesamoid bone under her toe, which she injured during this past soccer season. These injuries typically take 4-8 weeks to heal according to summitmedicalgroup.com, which would have knocked her out for a good amount of the season. Even though she would not have been able to play, Sayers says that basketball was not the only component to being on the team that she will miss.
   “I will miss the team bonding and the bus rides because it is good to hang out with everyone and have a good time,” she said. “Even though we didn’t win a lot of games, it was fun to travel with everyone.”
   While some may worry about the future of the program, Lawrence has confidence that the ship will be righted next year. 
   “We have some specific goals for that program this year,” he said. “However, we will bring (varsity) back next year.”
   The goals for the program include a junior varsity team, which consists of a mix of seven middle school students and three upper school students. Those upper school students are Enhkbileg Dendev (’17), Zhishan Yan (’17) and Madison Charles (’18). Dendev has had a very positive experience so far.
   "Joining the JV basketball team has been great,” she said. “I’ve met some really amazing teammates and I am ecstatic to be on the team. So far the games and practices have been great and always have fun with the girls on the team.”
   Shaff thinks the junior varsity team is the key to the revival of the program.
   “They need to keep the interest of people coming up to the high school,” she said. 
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    RSS Feed

    Sports Editor:
    Scoop Dieudieu

    Photographer: Eason Zhou

    Archives

    May 2022
    February 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    November 2020
    April 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    November 2019
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    November 2014
    October 2014

    Categories

    All

the Willis Hall Herald

Contact: willishallherald@northcross.org 
4254 Colonial Ave.
Roanoke, VA 240189
(540) 789-7289

Letters to the Editor: willishallherald@northcross.org 

Founded in 2010, and based in the Journalism elective, The Willis Hall Herald is the official student-led publication of the Upper School at North Cross School in Roanoke, VA. The Herald may be published in magazine form three times per year. GeoPrism: The Global Studies Journal may be published in magazine form once or twice per year. The Herald welcomes letters, commentary and submissions of original content that adhere to the Herald's dedication to factual journalism. Letters and other content must be signed and may be edited for length and Herald style. The Herald does not guarantee publication of outside submissions. Please contact Robert Robillard for ads. The Herald won Gold Medals from Columbia Scholastic Press Association in 2012 and 2015. 

The Staff

Editor-in-Chief ........................................................................................................................ Massoki Maka
Managing Editor....................................................................................................................... Eason Zhou
Social Media Editor.................................................................................................................... Eason Zhou
Website Editors...........................................................................................................................Eason Zhou
Opinion Editor.........................................................................................................................Massoki Maka
Graphics Editor................................................................................................................................... Dat Bui
Business Manager.......................................................................................................................Brock Miles
Features Editor......................................................................................................................................Nhi Le
Photography Editor.................................................................................................................. Eason Zhou
Arts Editor...................................................................................................................................Rabia Ferron
Arts and Entertainment Editor.......................................................................................Aadeetri Pandey
Sports Editor............................................................................................................................ Tristan Lange
Staff writers...................................... Rowan Anderson, Anne Bradley Cullen, Didi Dibetle, Lam Do, Antonio Mack, Aadeetri Pandey, Jiale Qin, Veronica Weston.
Graphic Artist .....................................................................................................................Gracean Ratliff
Op-Ed Columnists................................................................................................................... Helen Hertz

Advisor................................................................................................................................ Robert Robillard
Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Home
  • News
    • Head of School Armistead Lemon
  • Sports 2022-23
  • Features
    • Profiles >
      • Student Profiles
      • New Teacher Profiles
      • Leadership Profiles
      • Seniors: Class of 2021
      • Seniors: Class of 2022
  • GEOPRISM
  • Opinion
  • Arts
    • Scary Stories
    • April Fools Day
  • Print Issues
  • Photos
    • Homecoming
  • Ads
  • Staff
    • Aadeetri Pandey '26
    • Anne Bradley Cullen '26
    • Antonio Mack '26
    • Brock Miles '24
    • Dat Bui '23
    • Didi Dibetle '24
    • Eason Zhou '24
    • Gracean Ratliff '23
    • Hania Raza '24
    • Helen Hertz '24
    • Jiale Qin '26
    • Kenzie Raub '24
    • Lam Do '26
    • Massoki Maka '23
    • Nhi Le '25
    • Rabia Ferron '26
    • Rowan Anderson '26
    • Tristan Lange '26
    • Veronica Weston '26
    • Robert Robillard
  • Resources
  • News Archive
    • Coronavirus
    • Student Profiles
    • Teacher Profiles
    • Sports 2021-22 >
      • Football: State Champs