Growth mindset guides girls basketball forward
Girls varsity basketball has been off to a strong start to open the 2021-22 season. Away at Maine South for its first conference game of the season, Evanston was tied with the Hawks at halftime but pulled the score back in the second half for a win. On Dec. 3, the Kits competed in their second conference game and their first at home. Coming out with a win against Glenbrook South took them to 2-0 in conference and 6-2 overall.
Varsity Head Coach Brittany Johnson is happy with the Kits success so far.
“I like the space that we are in. I think the chemistry of this team is really great so it’s really fun to coach.”
Senior Capitan Maya Wallace felt similarly to Johnson.
“There really is no drama on the team. We all just really support each other and just have fun all of the time.”
It’s not all fun and games though. The Kits work extremely hard too. With such a young team, their practices are built up of fast-paced drills and conditioning to help keep them in the best shape possible.
Despite the pandemic last year and losing a lot of strong talent due to graduating seniors, ETHS was still able to pull out a positive record. This year, the team hopes to make up for last year’s limited playing time.
“We are a young team, experience wise, so we are just trying to get better everyday. We are keeping our goals really simple—the team we start the season as, we don’t want to be that team at the end, and I feel like, if we just focus on one day at a time, we’ll get to a point where we can compete with anyone.” says Johnson.
As Evanston focuses on growth, the team was given a professional example of what success looks like after the Chicago Sky won the WNBA title. Johnson reflected on her experiences growing up playing with one of the Sky’s leaders, Candace Parker.
“I actually grew up playing with [Parker]… I think it’s great, because when I was growing up, I really used to watch the Houston Comets and like Tina Thompson and Sheryl Swoopes. I wanted to be just like them,” Johnson says. “I think it’s really cool that younger kids now can look at Candace (Parker) and Allie (Quigley) and Diamond (DeShields) and say, ‘I wanna be like those players,’ and I think that’s helpful to move the game forward. “
The Kits’ next game is on Dec. 18 against Geneva as they play in New Trier’s Grow the Game Shootout.
Your donation will support the student journalists of the Evanstonian. We are planning a big trip to the Journalism Educators Association conference in Philadelphia in November 2023, and any support will go towards making that trip a reality. Contributions will appear as a charge from SNOSite. Donations are NOT tax-deductible.
