The most competitive games for the Conway basketball teams are scheduled for the beginning of the season, many of them in the tournament that is held by Kingman, which took place Dec. 10-12. Kingman hosted the tournament, but a majority of the team members had to quarantine, so the Kingman teams were unable to play. However, games were still played as scheduled with Hesston replacing Kingman.

“Our practices have been going well, but sometimes we can get a little nervous and stressed because of the small and young team we have,” senior Tracy Johnsen said. “I hope that our team can progress far in the tournament. I think we’re mentally ready, but we definitely need to work on things to be prepared.”

With the challenging games and the difficult loss the Conway teams had playing against Cheney, the beginning of the season had started off rough. However, the teams have been incorporating team building activities into their practices to raise morale.

“We’re doing a lot of team exercises that build our chemistry, and with that we are becoming better at communicating and working together,” junior Derek Osner said. “I believe we are more ready for games than we were in the last couple of seasons with these new things to work on in practice.”

 For the girls basketball team, building a decent mental attitude and preparation for games tends to be a little bit more challenging due to the small numbers, but the girls’ determination is strong.

“It’s difficult to play games and practice with the amount of girls we have, but it’s fun that there is a challenge involved,” freshman Izzy Linn said. “I think we’re ready for the games that we have coming our way. Every team is beatable when we have the will power in practice and on the court.”