By: Caleb Cybulski and Landon Gerhardt
The 2025-26 middle school basketball season is underway, and their season kicked off with a game against Lockland. With two new coaches and a group of 7th graders joining the team, they have high expectations and hope to make it further in the playoffs than last year. The coaches, CJ and Dante, have brought in new strategies and a whole new playbook, as well as a higher work ethic. Coach CJ has been playing basketball all his life and took the job to coach the middle school cause he wants them to see what varsity is like and that scoring points isn’t everything. “When you’re on varsity it’s not all about scoring, you have your defenders who will get a couple of layups per game but give you good defense, then you have your scorers who get you your points,” CJ said. With CJ as the head coach, players feel hopeful for more success and improvement this year.
7th grader Garret Bean says that he feels “pretty awesome” coming into the season, and that he is “very hyped” to be a part of the team. This is Garret’s first year on the middle school team, but he has been playing basketball since he was very young. Garret is one of three 7th graders to make A team, and believes that he can make a difference for the team. “I have high hopes to find some success this season,” Garrett said after they won their first game on December 1st. Garret had a handful of assists in his first game, and contributed greatly to the team, pushing them to a win.
Kaleb is also a very valued 8th grader on A team as every weekend he goes to practice his basketball skills at his local gym to try to impact the team as much as he can. “I feel like this could be a good season if we put in the work for our coach and show him what we can do as a team,” said Kaleb with confidence. With CJ as the new coach, everyone has high hopes for a great season. In one of the first games of the season, Kaleb was blown away by how much they care about this sport. “Last season was a fluke and we are trying our best not to repeat it,” Kaleb said. Kaleb worked harder than anyone in the offseason after feeling disappointed in his performance last year. He set a goal to be a part of the top team, and his work paid off, landing him in the starting lineup for A-team.
But Kaleb isn’t the only 8th grader who is highly respected, there is also Tyler Jordan who has been playing basketball all his life and has a love for the game. “I think we have a lot of talent on the team, and I think we’ll be pretty good,” he said. Tyler focuses on the sport year-round, and trained through last summer. Tyler says that he styles his game off of LeBron James, saying that LeBron’s ability to find the basket when his team needs him is something he tries to do.
The first game of the season was a dominant win, 51-14, and everyone on the team got playing time and scored, making this a great way to start the season. “It felt great to get that win and we are looking to repeat it.” said Garret. Others agreed, saying that it showed they could play well together, a skill that will be crucial down the stretch. Their defense worked together better than at any time last year, and their offense lit up. This was the A-team’s first win in the last year, after going 0-12 in the 2024-2025 season.