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Below is a great sign I posted just outside the locker room priore to us starting our firs Practice. Seniors have lots of emotions coming into their snior year and I wanted them to be proud of themselves and what they had done. Enjoy!

FHS Basketball Senior,

There's nothing better than basketball season.  I know it goes year-round, but it intensifies in the summer.  The camps, open gyms, fundraisers, scrimmages.  The bond and unity everyone gets when you're on a team is unexplainable.  Even if a few certain people didn't hang out with the other players during the school year, once basketball season starts, it’s a whole new start.  Everyone is family.  And as a family grows through trials and accomplishments, so does this team.  You work hard during practices and during the games you run and sweat together.  Everything is different during basketball season.  You go out on the floor and have fun doing what you love most...playing basketball.

Sadly, this is the last year for some of you.  You are seniors now and these last 21 games, or more we hope, will be the last competitive games at Farwell.  Cherish them, before they’re gone.  Play your hardest and leave it all out on the floor, and when you're done, you can look at yourself in the locker room mirror and say...I gave it my all.  If you don't, you will always be thinking to yourself..."what if?”  What if I would have run harder in practice?  Practiced a couple more lay ups or free throws?  What if I tried my hardest one more play after I thought I had nothing left in me?  What if?"  After your last game, you will go over in your mind all the memories you had playing basketball.  For many it's from the time you were in about 3rd grade, not really knowing plays, but just playing what you thought was the funnest thing in the world...basketball.  And there's always the memory of the time you lost that heartbreaking game to your schools rival...but it made you a better person.  And the feeling you got when you first stepped onto the floor as a varsity player.  Nothing beats game night when you’re play varsity basketball.  When you run through your warm-up, smiling and high-fiving each other, the sense of pride you get.  That first tip-off when your adrenaline REALLY gets going.  The crowd cheering for a good pass or nice shot.  When you're a varsity player you feel like you're on top of the world.  All the younger kids know you and dream that one-day they will also step onto this same Eagle floor to give it their all.  Then it's all over in a split second.  The final buzzer sounds in the 4th quarter of your last game.  And now all you have left is memories.  Great memories that you will remember for the rest of your life, stories you can share with your kids and grandkids.

Seniors...please cherish the moments.  You will miss it when it's gone.  It's almost over.  Try your hardest and leave it all out on the floor.  Commit to the 100% we talk of.  Don't finish the game thinking "what if".  You will regret it for the rest of your life.  Good luck to all of our seniors in the upcoming season.  Play hard, have fun, think positive and stay healthy!  We’ve had some good years together and I’ve enjoyed having the opportunity to get to know each one of you.  Use these basketball life lessons, and the 100% commitment, we have talked of throughout your lifetime.  Three things I want you to leave Farwell high school with:  a good education,  good friends and good memories.

God Bless you seniors,

Coach O

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