The long awaited start for the Independence High School Basketball season is finally here. The season is in full effect, with official practices beginning, and preparation for upcoming games being a top priority.
The Indy Basketball team is looking to bounce back year after a rough season last year, having lost to Briar Woods in the playoffs 51-38. Indy returns seven players from last year’s team, and brought up six players from the freshmen and JV teams.
In previous years, the Indy basketball team has featured new players year in and year out, but that is not the case this year, as coach Brian Nelson has brought up talent from the Freshman and JV teams. The players are showing high optimism for the upcoming season. One player on the team, guard Akash Udandrao, a senior, said he and the team have high hopes for the coming weeks.
“With all the work we’ve been putting in, and preparation for the upcoming season, we think we are really ready for this year. We want to be better than last year, and represent our school to the best of our ability, and we think we will be able to do that this year,” said Akash Udandrao.
When asked, what is motivating the team this year, Akash Udandrao said, “We didn’t have the season we wanted to have or were expecting to have last year, so we want to make up for that this year. We want out crowd to be cheering for a winning team.”
Another player on the team, center Dominic Mason, a junior, showed his excitement for this varsity season.
“This is my first year playing on the varsity team, and so far I’ve loved the extra intensity in practice. We continue to get each other better each and every day, and I think we’re going to be really good this year.”
The preparation Indy has been putting in seems to be paying off according to the players, so Indy Nation will wait and see soon if their basketball team lives up to the hype.
Indy is currently 2-1, with wins over Heritage and Loudoun County. Their next two games are December 18th, at Gainesville High School, and December 19th, vs Freedom.
