COURT ORDER ON THE ORDER ON THE COURT

As basketball season comes to a close, players and coaches reflect on what makes the girls and boys teams successful.

By Addison DeVore

Silence spreads across the court. A few dribbles echo. Players sit anxiously on the bench. She gets into position for the winning shot. She shoots. She scores! As the crowd goes wild, players envelope her to celebrate winning yet another game.

The girls basketball team is ranked number one in Kansas, according to MaxPreps. Coach Ann Fritz led the team in a successful season, where they currently sit at 18-4, as recorded by KC High School Hoops. She has coached at BVN for 27 years and is constantly trying to improve.

“I coach totally different than I coached 20 years ago, and I think you have to be flexible to change in our everchanging world,” Fritz said.

With the coaches always adapting, players must work to improve as well. This development takes place both on and off the court, with students such as senior Sumner Dowdy noticing that basketball has helped them grow in more ways than one.

“I feel like playing basketball and improving yourself isn’t just about your game. I feel like it’s learning how to deal with difficult things through ups and downs,” Dowdy said.

Player improvement also revolves around team bonds. The friendships that the coaches develop with their players has an impact that extends beyond the end of each season. Fritz is still in contact with players she taught several years ago.

“It’s just been great and even when I first started, I was still keeping contact with a lot of families [from] 25 years ago and the kids,” Fritz said. “A lot of those girls are married and have kids and some of them live in our district.”

Sophomore Jaliya Davis has been on the varsity team since freshman year. She has played basketball since second grade and is motivated by the chance of winning and seeing how much she’s improved through the years. She also mentioned how much she values the team relationships.

“What I enjoy most about playing basketball is the bonds that you make with your teammates and learning how to communicate with other people,” Davis said.

There are many similarities between the boys and girls basketball teams. The boys team also has a winning record of 17-3, as its coach, Ryan Phifer continues to prioritize improvement. Phifer is often inspired by basketball experts such as college-level coaches and the NBA.

“You just stay on top of new things that could work,” Phifer said. “We have a lot of different players every year. Sometimes we have height, sometimes we don’t, sometimes we have good guard play, so we have to improvise a little bit [and] we have to adapt our system according to [where] our players’ strengths are.”

Senior Blake Garrett has been on the varsity team since sophomore year and works both in practices and during the summer to improve in any way he can. He said the four days of practice each week bring the players together. “I love getting to hang out with teammates, play with my friends and just getting to build friendships that’ll last forever,” Garrett said.

Although they have several similarities, there are noticeable differences between the girls and boys basketball teams. Associate Principal Kelli Kurle noticed the gap in fan support between the girls and boys teams from several schools, including at BVN.

“I’ve coached girls programs that were ranked in the state and nobody would come watch, but then the boys team would not be ranked and everybody goes to those games,” Kurle said.

COVID-19 also limited fan participation at all games. The pandemic prevented fans from supporting both teams and put a halt to the idea of a more equal student section.

“When I was here pre-COVID we had a ton of participation in basketball games. Then there was COVID, when we had no participation because they couldn’t come,” Kurle said. “Now I feel like we’re getting back to where it was. We’re still not quite [at where we were] pre-COVID, but I think that we’re definitely making strides and getting kids back into stands.”

While the pandemic did have an impact on participation, it wasn’t the main cause. The lack of participation for women’s basketball stems far beyond COVID-19.

“I wouldn’t say it’s a new issue by any means. It just happens that we tend to get more fans at our games than girls,” Phifer said. “It’d be nice to have more fans there to support the girls game before ours and everything because they’re having a great season too.”

Coach Fritz recognizes how far women’s sports have come, but still wishes there was more fan support.

“The boys teams draw a lot more of a crowd, [and] the girls don’t have as much support,” Fritz said. “That’s bothersome just because the girls put in just as much time as the guys and have just as much passion for the sport as the guys.”