WICHITA, Kan.—
With the familiarity of the game of basketball for Trinity Academy, girls’ Head Coach Brett Gunderson is hoping for a good season. “It’s looking like we could have a good success with the program,” said Gunderson. “We’ve got a lot of girls that have a lot of experience returning and they’re going to work hard for it. We’ve got a lot of work ethic. I think we’ll have a pretty good season.”
For the Knights, the summer camps seem to have helped the development of the team greatly.
“In my opinion, this will be a big year for us because we had an awesome summer,” said junior Kristin Miller.
Even with a good summer, there is still improvement the team can make.
“We’re going to outwork each day, get better each day. If we do that, that should improve us every day of the week,” said Gunderson.
The team acknowledges its major weakness.
“I think this year like any year, we’re undersized,” said Gunderson. “Every team we play we’re going to have one girl that has some height. We’re kind of that 5’8” – 5’ 9” [height] in every position. Our size is kind of our struggle every year.”
Even with a huge weakness, Miller is aware of what they do right on the team.
“Our strong points would definitely be our crazy defense, speed, unity, and effort. We all love each other and love playing together and we push each other to give 110% every play.”
The low points of last year actually benefit the team this year.
“What we had were some injuries,” said Gunderson. “Two of our top girls were hurt throughout that whole year last year which allowed some underclassmen to get a lot of playing time. I think for the first time we’ve got a lot of kids seeing varsity time returning.”
The team has a theme that is inspiring them to do better than past years.
“Part of our girls’ goal we talk about is “Be the first”. They’ve never gotten past the first round of playoffs,” said Gunderson. “I think that’s kind of what their goal is. We want to have good success in the pre-season. I think more so, we’ve got to start working on something new this time. As we go through this year, we have goals. They want to be the first to have that first round of playoffs."
Even with such high goals, Miller believes their coach will get them there.
“He’s the best coach I’ve ever had. He has such a vast knowledge of the game and he has taught us so much,” said Miller. “Coach Gunderson pushes us to work our hardest everyday and give our best. He goes over and above to help us succeed.”
