As basketball returned to Battle Ground middle schools, the boys team enjoyed a smooth two-week season, while the girls season recently started on Feb. 7.
Daybreak Middle School coach Bradley Scott is glad sports returned to the district’s middle schools after an over 40 year hiatus.
“I’m very happy about it,” said Scott. “It’s been a long time coming, working in the district to try to make this happen for a while and I’m glad it’s actually come to fruition.”
Before coaching the boys team at Daybreak, Scott coached the girls basketball team at Battle Ground High School for 12 years. He said he stopped a few years ago to focus his time on bringing sports back into the district’s middle schools.
“I knew as soon as the subject came up, I was going to jump in and try to help make it work,” Scott said.
According to Scott, the turnout for boys basketball was good. Daybreak was able to compose a full eighth grade team and a full blended team of seventh and eighth graders. As of last week, the eighth grade team finished the season with a 3-3 record.
The team has faced Laurin, Tukes Valley, and Pleasant Valley middle schools. Since there are four teams in the eighth grade bracket, they play each school twice, totaling six games for the season.
For the blended team, their record sits at 2-1-1, with one game being tied.
“We have a good team with good players who work really hard,” Scott said. “We don’t have stars. Everybody’s a star.”
Sara Bosch, the girls basketball coach, is gearing up for the upcoming season at Daybreak Middle School.
“I’m super excited that it gives something for the kids to do after school,” said Bosch. “It also represents our school. Sports in general bring a lot of benefits, like teamwork and commitment.”
As of last week, 17 girls registered, Bosch said. The school hopes to have 10 players on the seventh grade team, 10 on the eighth grade team, and the rest will play on the blended team. The girls eighth grade team will play against other middle schools. While Daybreak has a blended team, not all of the middle schools do, which is why the blended teams will play fewer games, she said.
“That gave us a chance where nobody’s going to get cut from the team,” Bosch said. “None of the schools wanted to make cuts, so they just added the (blended) team.”
Bosch noted other districts do cut players. Battle Ground is different in that sense because they ensure everyone who wants to play gets a spot on a team.
“It’ll give them the fundamental skills to participate in games if they choose to,” Bosch said. “There’s an option that you can just be on the practice squad as well. I think it’s important to know that Battle Ground was thinking about the kids who can’t compete in sports but still want to be able to participate. They can still come out and practice with us.”
As of last week, she said about five kids have signed up for the practice squad.
