Baldwin girls and boys basketball teams look to bring more titles to school

New York Post

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00:00My father played basketball actually at Baldwin and I wanted to like carry on his legacy kind of

00:05and plus the girls basketball team that was here already they were like my idols at the time so I

00:11was really like I was trying to be like them a lot and wanted to be at their level. I love the

00:15girls team. They work hard in the beginning of the year to the end of the year. They have a great

00:20chemistry with each other so if that's what it takes to win a state title I want to do that too

00:23and I hope both of us win a state title this year as well. It's great you know they're very close

00:28you know myself and coach Catapano are very close the girls and boys teams are very close you know

00:32we cheer each other on we're at each other's games. We love when they win they love when we win.

00:37My brothers my older brothers played basketball so when I was younger I was really just trying to be

00:42better than them but then I started to take it more serious and Baldwin seeing Baldwin like have

00:48a history of winning I've always wanted to just be a part of it and win so yeah. Last season we had

00:55our star player Chase he played a big part in our way to the Long Island Championship and winning that

01:00and also our adversity and the problems that we faced during the season like losing to Elmont in

01:06our winter league and stuff like that just motivated us to work harder towards winning the LIC.

01:10I feel like the special part about the win the LIC win Nassau County Championship because

01:15everybody counted us out of being a five seed in Nassau losing to multiple teams that we played in

01:22playoffs like Greenneck South, Elmont and just overcoming the doubters and proving them wrong.

01:28I think the most motivating part about it is like being a part of that group the five people who

01:33win at LIC so I think that's the most exciting part and motivating part about it. Well they know you

01:37know they always make fun of me you know I never leave home without it you know I want them to know

01:42you know that's the ultimate prize they know if they win a county championship they'll get jackets

01:45they win a Long Island Championship they get rings and jackets so there's not a day that goes by

01:50like they don't see me have it on in practice in games because they know that's what they want.

01:53It was probably the best thing that ever happened to me so far and I don't think I'll ever forget it

01:58just because I know how much you put into it so like when it finally happened it was so rewarding.

02:03Yes I even cried so it was it was actually like exhilarating and it's something that I would never

02:09forget like ever in my life. Like losing game was a big adversity but we work hard every day to like help

02:15overcome those challenges. I know a lot of schools are like I don't want to say like happy but they're

02:20like have more hope about their team not against being out but we have to shut that out we have to

02:26be every team that we play. I want to say challenges per se I'm just excited to like get my last practices

02:33like every day going through every practice with my team and being with my team because I know I'm

02:39going to miss it when I when I graduate. I want to take it in and just experience it to the fullest.

02:43Our biggest adversity was probably our mentality you know we had to come in every day and work hard

02:49and you know some days we had those little slouch periods but once we really learned how to like

02:54come in every day and really work hard we were really great.

02:57Like in practices I still show up to every practice on time and the people that are taking my spot they're

03:02younger than me so I just want to show them the way and like what to do right and what's not to do wrong

03:06and just just tell them what to do and show them like you'd be like a role model to them and just like

03:11help them help them persevere through the season. That's really big and it shows on the court you

03:16know like I said I think we have eight seniors this year so it's a close knit we have nine first-year

03:22players so I got a mixture of both but you know I'm big on doing things on the court as well as off

03:26the court you know just last weekend I took the team to a Long Island Mets game I played at Hofstra so

03:32we have you know we're gonna have a Hofstra night I believe it's February 5th we have a Hofstra night

03:36um or take the team bowling you know so I think all that pays to our program being very successful.

03:43I think the most fun part about it was just playing with boys like you've been playing with since you

03:48were like in elementary school I've been playing with these guys since grade school even before

03:53that and I think winning with those guys is just that's what matters most. Yeah with Mike I've been

03:59playing with Mike since I was in third grade we were in the same PAL team and just knowing him all my life

04:05and just seeing him grow as a player and as a person it's an amazing feeling and with Ethan we

04:10started in middle school together and seeing him grow and play varsity his freshman year motivated

04:14me to want to play varsity my sophomore year so it's just nice to see. Yeah I mean when we're not

04:18playing basketball they're usually at my house like we're either watching movies playing games like

04:25it's just it's not just basketball it's like a it's like a family like we're like a family we're all

04:30locked in together. It's definitely like a family type of bond because um if you're not playing

04:34basketball we're probably going out to eat together uh bowling uh watching games we watch you know

04:39team bonding and um and probably after this we're probably gonna play the game together anyway so

04:43yeah um we were together every day whether it was for lunch or after school we just had that tight bond

04:48and we've been together for a long time we had a lot of experience so we were just close naturally.

04:54This is the first time any of us won our at one LSE last year and um having one is cool but like two

04:59is better so I tell like the goal is to go back to back. Oh we want to do it again definitely we're

05:05going to we're going to try to do it again definitely. It is one step at a time you know we got we caught

05:11the injury bug as you know at the beginning of the season but I think this team has a lot of promise

05:15you know it's not about how we start how it's about how it ends um it's going to take some time but um

05:20this team is going to be good.

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