Training for Basketball Season

The Nutley Girls Varsity Basketball Team is one of the most talked about sports teams at Nutley High School during the winter season. The team is coached by Mr. Larry Mitschow who is a physical education teacher at Nutley High School. This season, the three captains were seniors Courtney Wilde, Rebecca Granta, and Alaina Feaster. The team was more than just teammates. There were friendships that were made throughout the seasons. As Coach Mitschow said, “The team developed a special bond on and off the court. We had great team chemistry and enjoyed a lot of laughs this year.”

Out of all the years that Mitschow has coached the basketball team, this is the first year where he has had to cut girls. Tryouts lasted a week and ran from 5pm until 7pm. Coaches were able to determine who was right for the team and who wasn’t. “As the head coach, probably the hardest part of my job is telling young ladies they will not be making the team. It literally stressed me out for weeks, because I knew it was inevitable. Seeing the girl’s reactions was something I will have a hard time forgetting,” Mitschow explained. Since this was new to every girl on or off the team they had to prepare for the season and improve.

When the season started every single girl trained harder than they ever have. NHS junior, Abby Scheidel, who has been playing basketball since 6th grade, said, “I’ve been on the (high school) team for three years so far.” She has learned that you have to work hard every single day, but still have fun on the team. She has made a lot of friendships on the team especially with all the seniors who are leaving next year.

Senior captain Courtney Wilde, scored 1,000 points this year, a huge personal and NHS milestone. As Wilde said, “I felt accomplished because it was a goal I was trying to reach and since my friends and family were there it was more special.”

The team has had an interesting season. Their record was 9-18 and they had played 27 games. While the girls didn’t win as many games as they might have liked, they still had a lot of fun. They learned how to work as a team.

While this was the end for the season at Nutley High School for some of the seniors, it wasn’t the end for the players that are improving and working harder. Everyone is working to be the best they can be. Basketball is more than just a sport; everyone on the team at Nutley High School is a family.