How does a basketball practice turn into a history lesson? At UHS the Girls Varsity Basketball team is coached by Joe Blaser, one of our very own history teachers. Besides teaching lessons, he learns them daily from his team. One of the biggest lessons he learned this season is, “That growth and success are not always linear. These two things take many shapes and forms and it is not always easy to achieve growth and success,” He stated.
When asked about her favorite memory of this past season; Sophomore Ella Crawmer began reminiscing on one specific practice. “Towards the beginning of the season, we were scheduled to have a regular two hour practice. Someone must have asked him [Blaser] a question because he started ranting, going on and on about things like the civil war and money. Not much about basketball at all. I think that day we only practiced for about thirty minutes of our usual 2 hours.” Crawmer said.
This coaching tactic may be unseen but it is obvious Blaser knows what he’s doing. The team had some pretty big wins this year going 58-16 against Gov. Thomas Johnson HS in late January. They also had some good competition in Oakdale and managed to pull out a 41-40 win.
Coach Blaser is constantly inspired and impressed by his athletes this year, when asked about his favorite thing about his team this season, he didn’t hesitate to respond with, “Even during some hard games or hard moments of the season they continued to show up. They never backed away from challenges.”
He shared that the key to his team’s successes is the “contributions from so many different people.”
As well as his team’s ability to overcome setbacks. “We were down 5 points with 1 minute to go against Oakdale and we came back to win the game. We played great defense and hit some really important free throws to finish the comeback.” He shared.
This season hasn’t been all winning, but it’s all in playing a sport. The team stays positive, taking energy from the crowd and staying focused on strategy. Blaser can be seen putting his all into the game on the sidelines among the bench motivating their teammates.
The bench can always be seen standing up as their teammates go for a 3, cheering as loud as possible and encouraging the 5 on the court to never quit.
Although the girls just had their last regular season game, playoffs start on Wed, Feb 28th and they are ready. They train throughout the year, preparing for the winter. Lookout for the Hawks to win some playoff games very soon!
