It’s unusual for a freshman to make the varsity team. That’s why going into tryouts, freshman Megan Lomotan had no expectations. “The other underclassmen who were at the varsity tryouts came back and were like ‘I made JV,’ and I was like OK, well then there’s no chance for me and I went into the office and they were like ‘I want you to play varsity,’ and I was shocked.” Lomotan said.

Lomotan achieved her goal of making varsity basketball as a freshman by practicing every day outside of her house for an hour as well as practicing at her local community center. Varsity basketball team coach Maggie Dyer said during tryouts, “I look for fundamentals and skills. Also, defensively if the players can challenge the other players on varsity.”

The major differences between junior varsity and varsity are, “The size of the players and speed of the game. On varsity the players are bigger, the game is faster and more physical,” Dyer said.

Freshmen tend to not be as experienced as upperclassmen, which can create a challenge for them on varsity. Tryouts are divided into two days. “You go and it’s everybody all at once, so it’s not like it’s divided between JV and varsity and then you have one combined tryout and you do fundamentals, running and layups, passing, and shooting. The second day we were divided between upperclassmen and lowerclassmen and some lowerclassmen that are good enough to make varsity tryouts with the upperclassmen,” Lomotan said.

Another freshman on the varsity basketball team, Maya Bellamy said, “On the court, Megan isn’t afraid and you can trust her in many aspects.”

For anyone looking to make varsity as a freshman, “My advice is to practice a lot and don’t go into the practice thinking, “I’m not going to make it. I had doubts myself but I still went into the tryout thinking I’m going to make the team and I’m going to try my hardest,” Lomotan said.

Looking back on pre-season training, “I would focus more on practicing certain things like when I went to the gym I would do basically everything all at once but I wish I did one day for shooting, one day for dribbling,” Lomotan said.

Balancing all of Lomotan’s sports with school is not easy. She said, “I have a lot of conflicts withsoccer, basketball and school, so it’s always clashing. Most of the time I come late to soccer practice right after I leave basketball, so I have to sacrifice some of basketball practice and I have to catch up on the plays I missed and it’s just a lot,” Lomotan said.

Bellamy agreed with that sentiment. “Being a freshman on the team isn’t easy. Both Megan and I aren’t with friends in our grade. However, the upperclassmen are really kind and have taken us under their wing,” Bellamy said.