For Love of the Game
by Samantha Lake'17
Michael Jordan once said, “What is love? Love is playing every game like it’s your last.”
This quote means to play every game to your fullest potential, your mind, body, and soul should be 100% focused shouldn’t be anywhere else. The point is to play the best you can play, and be the best you can be.
Our Bedford boys varsity basketball team has found success early on this year with the help of players and head coach Mr. Elmendorf. He says, “It’s been a great year. Right now we are 7-2. We are playing very well, and I think we are a team that can make a serious run in the playoffs, at the end of the season. Both of our losses are to the top 2 teams in the state.” Exeter and Portsmouth are the two teams that Bedford has lost to.
Basketball is a high energy and up-tempo game that is easy to enjoy. The stands are filled with students, teachers, parents, and little siblings, all there to support the Bulldogs. The majority of the games are close, which makes them very exciting to watch.
Mr. Elmendorf is confident in their stride to the playoffs and he has a strategy to sail the Bulldogs all the way to the ship. He explained, “This is my 2nd season as the varsity basketball coach and 30th year as a teacher in Bedford. We are not a big time ‘run and gun’ team. We try to make the extra pass on offense and take advantage of the shooters that we have. We play both man to man and zone defense depending on who we play against.”
The thing that hurts Bedford the most is our mistakes, “Our biggest struggle is to make sure we do not turn the ball over. We have a goal to limit turnovers in every game. We consistently work on ball handling and passing every day in practice”.
There are many components that go into winning a basketball game; teamwork, communication, good defense, intensity, good shooters, the list goes on and on. According to Mr. Elmendorf, “We are a very good shooting team and we have very good balanced scoring. We routinely have 3 to 4 players each game scoring in double figures. Troy Meservey is having an excellent senior season and is our leading scorer.” It seems like Troy doesn’t miss a three-point shot, and his points are essential to the success of the team.
Basketball is a team sport, and every player has an important role in the team’s success. In basketball, there needs to be leaders, people that other players look up to, captains to guide and to help teammates when they are in a slump. “Our two captains are Liam Greene and Ryan Porter, they are both excellent leaders on and off the court.”
On January 27th, the boys played Salem. Salem is a very aggressive team and that made for an intense elbow throwing game, as a result, it was stressing the players out. During a free throw, captain Liam Greene told the Bedford player on the line, “Relax, breathe”, to help maintain focus in one of the game's key moments.
Bedford is lucky to have the great leadership in the current captains as well as with head coach Mr. Elmendorf. When asked, ‘why do you coach?’, Mr. Elmendorf gave the most honest and genuine answer, he said, “I coach because I love the challenge of the game and the opportunity to work with such great kids. I tell the kids on the team that going to practice is by far my best part of the day. This is a really fun group of kids to work with. They have great team chemistry, and most importantly have a great work ethic.”
This quote means to play every game to your fullest potential, your mind, body, and soul should be 100% focused shouldn’t be anywhere else. The point is to play the best you can play, and be the best you can be.
Our Bedford boys varsity basketball team has found success early on this year with the help of players and head coach Mr. Elmendorf. He says, “It’s been a great year. Right now we are 7-2. We are playing very well, and I think we are a team that can make a serious run in the playoffs, at the end of the season. Both of our losses are to the top 2 teams in the state.” Exeter and Portsmouth are the two teams that Bedford has lost to.
Basketball is a high energy and up-tempo game that is easy to enjoy. The stands are filled with students, teachers, parents, and little siblings, all there to support the Bulldogs. The majority of the games are close, which makes them very exciting to watch.
Mr. Elmendorf is confident in their stride to the playoffs and he has a strategy to sail the Bulldogs all the way to the ship. He explained, “This is my 2nd season as the varsity basketball coach and 30th year as a teacher in Bedford. We are not a big time ‘run and gun’ team. We try to make the extra pass on offense and take advantage of the shooters that we have. We play both man to man and zone defense depending on who we play against.”
The thing that hurts Bedford the most is our mistakes, “Our biggest struggle is to make sure we do not turn the ball over. We have a goal to limit turnovers in every game. We consistently work on ball handling and passing every day in practice”.
There are many components that go into winning a basketball game; teamwork, communication, good defense, intensity, good shooters, the list goes on and on. According to Mr. Elmendorf, “We are a very good shooting team and we have very good balanced scoring. We routinely have 3 to 4 players each game scoring in double figures. Troy Meservey is having an excellent senior season and is our leading scorer.” It seems like Troy doesn’t miss a three-point shot, and his points are essential to the success of the team.
Basketball is a team sport, and every player has an important role in the team’s success. In basketball, there needs to be leaders, people that other players look up to, captains to guide and to help teammates when they are in a slump. “Our two captains are Liam Greene and Ryan Porter, they are both excellent leaders on and off the court.”
On January 27th, the boys played Salem. Salem is a very aggressive team and that made for an intense elbow throwing game, as a result, it was stressing the players out. During a free throw, captain Liam Greene told the Bedford player on the line, “Relax, breathe”, to help maintain focus in one of the game's key moments.
Bedford is lucky to have the great leadership in the current captains as well as with head coach Mr. Elmendorf. When asked, ‘why do you coach?’, Mr. Elmendorf gave the most honest and genuine answer, he said, “I coach because I love the challenge of the game and the opportunity to work with such great kids. I tell the kids on the team that going to practice is by far my best part of the day. This is a really fun group of kids to work with. They have great team chemistry, and most importantly have a great work ethic.”