The Importance of Seniors
March 6, 2024
Travis Haverdink
The game is tied, with barely any time left on the clock. The crowd can hardly watch. Win and move on, lose, your season is over. Who do you trust to lead your team to victory? Steph Curry? Patrick Mahomes? Aaron Judge? Well, in high school sports, it’s the seniors of the team. On the Hamilton girls basketball team, those seniors are Bethany Behnke and Raquel Martinez.
Just like the greatest players in all of the professional sports teams are trusted to lead their team, that’s the same job that seniors have on their own high school team. Emma Slotman, a freshman on the team, said this about the role of seniors. “They are the leaders and the influence of the team and play a big role in who we are.” Seniors are very crucial to a team’s success through their leadership. Seniors are in their 4th and final year of high school, so they know all the ins and outs of basketball. Joselyn Paskvan, a sophomore, said that the role of a senior is, “To lead and to set a good example for everyone, not just their teammates.” Seniors have a role to lead not just their teammates, but the Hamilton community. They represent Hamilton night in and night out as leaders of our community. When other schools play another team, they always look into how the team plays. And this is a big part of how the seniors lead their team and everyone else.
Seniors are counted on to lead their team every single night.. They know how everything runs and what the plays are. They have top tier knowledge some lower classmen wouldn’t. Since seniors have been doing it for the longest, they know what to do and when to do it. Like Emma said, they play a big role in who the team is. Everyone knows who the seniors are and the way that they lead, the team will follow. Bethany Behnke, one of the seniors on the team, said this when asked what the role of a senior is. “The role of a senior is to be a person that your teammates can look up to and confide in when things get tough.” Seniors show their team how to lead in a game situation and in practice. Seniors are also someone who other teammates have to be able to trust in any situation.
Most of the players on the girls basketball team said that they are looking forward to being a senior in the coming years on the girls basketball team. They are looking forward to it because they want to be able to lead their team and be the person who everyone looks to. Joselyn Paskvan said that she is excited to get the opportunity to get better and step up her game. But some people also said that they aren’t looking forward to being a senior on the team. Kaitlyn Geurink said, “I don’t want to be a senior because that means highschool basketball is almost over.” The fact is, being a senior is bitter sweet because it’s exciting to be the leader on the team, but that means for most that it might be the last season ever playing basketball. Bethany says that a disadvantage of being a senior is to become close with your teammates, and then not being able to play with them ever again. High school is a short 4 year chapter, so your teammates aren’t teammates forever. This is the disadvantage of a senior.
Senior night happens during the last home game of the season. This time is very emotional and special because tons of people come out to watch. It’s a time to celebrate the seniors of the team and what they accomplished. Bethany says that her favorite moment of the year is senior night. Seniors get to be recognized for their commitments to the team in front of the entire crowd. This is when the seniors really get to shine and show everyone who they are and how important to their team.
Every team needs seniors. Without seniors, teams can struggle to have leadership at times. If you don’t have those game managers, your team can quickly fall apart when the team needs to come together to beat an opponent. This is why seniors are very important to any team.