Seniors take leadership role on boys’ basketball team

Boys’ basketball had an even start to the season, with a 2-3 record, but in early December, team members said they had hopes of turning over more wins in the months to come.

The three captains are seniors Ryder Rietkerk, Brandon Stewart, and Marcielo Aquino, but Rietkerk named Liam Stewart as a standout athlete. “We all made the team freshman year and are big pushers of the team to always make us improve every day,” Rietkerk said.

Anyone can try out but not everyone makes the team. According to Rietkerk, Aquino and Stewart are especially talented. “Marcielo is a purebred athlete with a strong work ethic,” he said. 

He also said Brandon Stewart is “a member of a 7-person basketball family and has always been around the game.”

Rietkerk said the coach’s approach to teaching others about this sport is that he “is always pushing everyone to be the best version of who they are.”

“He’s great at seeing the vision in some players when they can’t see it in themselves,” he added. “My sophomore year, he told me he saw something in me and the way I played, something he wanted to unlock.”

Practices consist of warmups with the strength and conditioning coach, then into “running some down and backs to get the legs warm,” followed by a “shooting on the move drill,” and “then we get into preparing to get better,” said Reitkerk. “This part of practice always varies depending on what opponent we are preparing for or what we need to get better at.” 

Rietkerk said he takes basketball “week by week” as every opponent or game or practice that is in front of him and the team needs all his attention. “I can never think past an opponent; every game matters,” Rietkerk said.

Last year the team’s record was 10-12. “We were a young team, and most of the starting lineup was juniors and sophomores,” he said. “Unfortunately we didn’t return one of our big guys–Christian Martin–but other than him we had a lot of returners.”

Their weakness was being “young and liable to make errant mistakes,” but this year, Rietkerk said they are “going to prove a lot of people wrong by having a big three of Stewart, Aquino, and myself.”

“We have more than enough to be a Western Massachusetts competitor,” he said.  They had their first game versus South Hadley, “an opponent we may have overlooked, and we lost. This is the reason to never look past a team no matter what.”

 “I think losing this game helped give the guys who did play a real reality check and woke us up to always be ready to play,” he said.

Rietkerk said what he loves, above all, is “competing, and the atmosphere around it.”

“Going out twice a week and being able to play against people I know or don’t know [is amazing],” he said. “And the fans. All of it. It’s fun to be a part of and be the guys that people come out to watch.”

He also appreciated the team’s camaraderie. “In school, we’re all very close and good friends, and before games, we try and get a meal or go out for a team dinner the night before,” he said. “Chili’s is our spot.”

Rietkerk also wanted to give “a shoutout to our team manager Matthew Nhong,” who supports the team in achieving its goals.