⚜ Boys ⚜
The Sheyenne girls are another team that very nearly earned a spot among the state qualifiers last season. They're returning with a young squad, but if recent history is any indication, they will have plenty of talent!
What are some of the highlights of last season for your team?
"After graduating several talented players, who had played for us pretty much since we started as a new program, and led us to back-to-back state tournaments, we had a new group last season who were going to take some time to figure out their own identity. It was exciting to see them continue to improve as the season progressed, play their best basketball at tournament time, and put themselves in a position to play in a state tournament qualifying game in which they played really well and came very close to again qualifying for another state tournament."
How do you plan on building upon what you taught your returning players last season?
"We had some really young players earn an opportunity to play some significant varsity minutes last season, and gain some valuable experience. This season we will have even more young players that we expect to play a lot of meaningful varsity minutes. So patience will be required early in the season as our young team learns together what it will take to compete and be successful at this level." What effect do you think the lack of summer camp & extra workouts will have on your players?
"Everyone certainly did not have the opportunity to get in the gym as much as we wanted to this past summer, and put in the amount of time and work we would have liked due to COVID-19. It was an unprecedented summer for everyone, and so it’s hard to know how much of an impact it will have. While everyone will be impacted by that, I think it’s fair to say the teams who are young, and do not have a lot of experienced players returning, will probably be most impacted. Especially early in the season." Who are some of the players who will need to step up to replace the ones that moved on?
"Like almost everyone, we graduated some players who provided a lot for us last season. We will need our players who are returning with experience to provide leadership, consistency, and stability, especially early in the season, until our young players gain some experience and get comfortable with the speed, physicality, and intensity of the varsity level. We expect Jadyn Feist, our only senior on the roster and returning all-conference, to be a player that provides the leadership we will need to help with the development of all of our younger players." Is there a certain aspect of the game that you think will be the strength of your team?
"We will be really young overall, and so we will be spending the early part of the season finding out a lot about ourselves. We have a lot of young players who are talented, and we will have to see how their strengths play at the varsity level this season. We will have good overall length and athleticism which should positively impact both our offense and defense." Who do you think the leader will be this season?
"We have several players who have leadership skills and will be capable of providing leadership in their own way. The one player we will look to and expect to provide consistent leadership, and be our voice on and off the court, will be Jadyn Feist. She consistently practices & plays hard and with a lot of energy, is a great teammate who models unselfishness and being a team-first player, has earned the respect of all of her teammates. She will be a great leader and mentor for all of our young kids this season." Is there anything else you would like people to know about your program or your players?
"We are very excited to see how our young team grows and develops throughout the season. They are a great group of young women who fit very well into our culture, and will play an exciting style of team basketball."