The start of basketball season has come again and the boy’s basketball team is off to an impressive start. Players have been hard at work, building good chemistry with their teammates to ensure they are ready for another awesome season. “I’m the most excited for starting the new season with our new leaders, and starting to build our journey to state.” Said Sophomore, Desmond Washington. Washington was one of the few freshmen who got playing time on varsity last year. “My favorite part about being on the basketball team is being with my teammates everyday, making new connections with the team, and making new friendships that will last a lifetime. Said Washington.
Senior Bret Keech attended East his freshman and sophomore year but then his junior year transferred to Shawnee Mission South to play basketball there. For his final year, he decided to transfer back to East to finish off his senior year back where he started. His goals for this season are to “Make it to state and go over .500.” When Keech was at East he was a freshman and sophomore so, he had seniors to look up to and did not have as many responsibilities. Now with Keech being a senior and one of the leaders he is excited to take on the role and lead his team to state. “There is a lot more responsibility being a senior but, I think that I’ve done a good job of being a good leader. I like having more responsibility on myself because I trust myself in these kinds of situations, so I like being able to be one of the leaders on the team” Said Keech.
The Hawks have had two games so far this season both being in the Desoto tournament, winning both of their games. They have made it to the championship game and will play for the 1st place win on December 14th at 2:30 P.M. Head coach Ryan Darst is ready for another awesome season. Darst has been coaching basketball for 23 years, 21 of those years were at Shawnee Mission West. This is Darst’s second year coaching here at OE. Darst says “I’m most excited about how a lot of the varsity guys haven’t played a ton of varsity minutes before, so i’m excited to see how our team grows and progresses.”