“On the line!” As the season nears, Latrobe’s girls and boys basketball teams are deep underway into their preseason preparations. From learning offenses, to plain conditioning, both teams have been putting in a tremendous amount of work in hopes of successful seasons. The girls are practicing on Mondays and Wednesday and the boys are practicing every Tuesday and Thursday. Players seem to be very confident in their upcoming seasons. 

“I think that this is our year to make it to the playoffs. We will need a winning record, but I think that we will make that happen,” says Bailey Watson, junior shooting guard for the girls basketball team. Last season, the team was knocked out of the playoffs by Penn Trafford for the second year in a row. This year, the team has high hopes for their games against PT. “I think that we will go 2-0 against PT because we have the same team as last year.” Players believe that because no team members were lost from last year to this year, the team’s chemistry will have a positive effect on the outcomes of some of the teams tougher matchups. 

One tough matchup that both teams will be facing this season is Covid-19. Landon Butler, sophomore shooting guard, believes, “There will still be a season, but the amount of fans will be limited.” Landon believes that the limited amount of fans will have only a slight impact. “Affect us to an extent, but not too much. Our team feeds on fans’ energy. It hypes us up and gives us energy,” said Landon.

With all the looming uncertainty of the season, players will stay true to some special pregame rituals to keep some consistency to game day. “Right before the game I always pray. I started to do this in 8th grade. It just calms me down when I’m nervous and I know that God’s got my back,” says Butler. 

Senior point guard/shooting guard Ryan Sickenberger takes a different approach. “Before each game, I like to stretch and tie my shoes in the same order.” While it may not seem like much, little superstitions like these can affect the outcome of a game to certain athletes,” said Sickenberger.