After a rocky start to the 2023-2024 season, the boys’ varsity basketball team closed the year with amazing achievements. They were awarded the FHSAA Academic Team Champion award for their academic and athletic excellence. The program recognized the boys’ varsity team for having the highest GPA in Class 3A for boys basketball, and the second-highest GPA in the state for all Boys Basketball teams.
Head Coach Eric Schneider and Assistant Coach Anthony Palumbo value the team’s academic performance.
“This award just shows how hard they have been working not only on the court, but off the court as well,” Schneider said.
Junior James Hawley was a part of the award-winning team and attributes their successes to the overall synergy of the group.
“I think the chemistry of the team is one of the most important aspects of basketball, because you could have amazing players but if they can’t communicate well on the court, you won’t have a good outcome,” Hawley said.
Schneider agrees that the communication and connectivity aspects of the sport are just as important, if not more, than the physical skills needed like speed and agility.
“The longer I coach, the more I realize that the best teams that I’ve been around are the ones that are the most connected,” Schneider said. “This year as the guys got more and more connected I could see it, and I could see their growth as a team.”
At the beginning of the season, the team experienced some rough losses and both coaches agreed this was mainly due to the level of harmony of the group at the time.
“As we got closer and our momentum and energy grew, we just became a better team and I think our performance on the court reflected that,” Hawley said.
Schneider encouraged the team to bond throughout the season by using creative tactics
“I didn’t allow cell phones or headphones on bus rides, so during away games they had to talk and I think that was a good way for them to bond as a team,” Schneider said.
Not only do Schneider and Palumbo prioritize building strong connections and relationships between players on the team, they also focus on improving the boys’ character outside of basketball.
“You’d think our goal is just to help these kids develop into better basketball players, but it’s also about helping them develop into better men,” Palumbo said.
A key component of being a successful athlete is having a positive attitude outside of practice and maintaining ethical and academic integrity. Ultimately, this is what led the boys’ varsity basketball team to have a terrific season and earn the Academic Team Champion award.
“We want to help our student-athletes grow into well-rounded people,” Schneider said. “So when we see that they’re working hard at their sport, along with working hard in the classroom, it’s really what we want out of each and every student.”
