As the basketball season nears, the excitement for this years varsity team increases.  Players are currently going through fall workouts and continue to prepare for the upcoming season. Two juniors, Cade Blasen and Nathan Fulton, said they couldn’t be more excited about this team and their potential.

“I feel like we all have really good [team] chemistry,” Blasen said. “And I think we can go very far.”

Players having been preparing for this season for months now, and having been doing everything they can to improve on their skills.

“We had summer workouts every morning and are now into fall workouts,” Fulton said, “I will also go to the gym for shoot-arounds and to play against friends.”

The players seem to agree that fall workouts are for the betterment of the team, although the workouts are grueling and difficult.

“It’s hard work, especially the running, but it gets us stronger both mentally and physically. It helps us bond as a team,” Blasen said.

Other players viewed the workouts the same, as some view it as a vital part of the team success.

“I feel like they’re a necessary part of our team building and in-season success, as we get to struggle through difficult times but at the same build up our team chemistry,” Fulton said.

Blasen has been playing basketball since he was very young, and has loved the game ever since.

“It’s really competitive and exciting, constantly going back and forth, and it’s always fun to compete against friends and other people,” Blasen said.

Fulton has also been playing basketball for nearly his entire life, and shares the same passion for basketball as Blasen does.

“The game is so fluid and you need everyone on the court to make an impact,” Fulton said. “It makes it that much fun to play, especially competing against friends.”

Both juniors are planning for a great season, but they said they have different goals for the future of their basketball career.

“My long-term goals is to possibly turn my basketball career into a coach or just try to further my basketball skills and see where it takes me, and just try to build my career around basketball,” Blasen said.

Basketball will be a focus for Fulton’s future as well, but doesn’t necessarily want to develop solely around the game.

“Long-term goals is to make something out of my basketball career, whether that’s becoming a player or a coach. But if not basketball, I have many other career paths that I would love to pursue and focus on,” Fulton said.

But both of them agree on trying to make this year one for the record books and to make strides toward achieving a championship.

“[A] goal is to improve on our record from last year and win the EKL,” Blasen said. “But the [main] goal for this year is to go to State with these seniors – they have worked so hard and deserve it.”