From December to February on Thursdays, Wakefield’s Varsity Boys Basketball team does more than just practice basketball. At Claremont Elementary, the guys read to elementary school students as part of the Readers are Leaders program. Being on the Basketball team is more than just playing basketball, it’s about bonding and creating a family that will be there for each other. Everyone wants to win, and Wakefield Basketball is know for making it to play offs every year. This program has been successful ever since Bentley came to Wakefield 18 years ago.

Coach Bentley said, “The Readers are Leaders program that we’ve been involved in for the last 10 years or so, was started by Wendell Byrd, a long time South Lakes Basketball coach; he’s retired now…It’s a mentor program…it’s a great opportunity…if you could see the way our kids change when they go read to the 2nd graders…I think the high school kids get more out of it than the little kids do; I really do. I am proud of them.” Junior Izaiah Lang said of his experiences reading to the kids at Claremont, “I think it is pretty fun. All the kids have different personalities. They are all really funny.”

Boys Basketball started their season in Utah. It is the 3rd year they have flown 2,000 miles to Orem, Utah to build their skills right when the season started. They have played in 10 games since Utah. There have been some memorable wins and some heartbreaking losses. A big presence on the court is junior Dontae Clark. How does he prepare? “I am locked in from the beginning of the game. I stay focused. I know I have to represent Wakefield well every minute in the game.” Izaiah Lang said that the team does best when, “we slow ourselves down and just run out our game plan. Then we can execute really well and that leads us to a win.”

The last two games have been phenomenal wins for our Boys. They beat Edison at Edison last Friday, 68-36. On Monday, they played a rescheduled game against Lee and gave us another impressive win, 81 – 59. All of the Basketball teams won last night: freshmen, JV, and Varsity. It seems like the team is connecting and communicating on the court.

Tonight, Tuesday, January 14th, is a big game, Warriors. We play Marshall. It is a White Out. Come be part of the hype and support our Boys at home. Freshman are 4:30, JV is 5:45, and Varsity plays at 7:30pm.

Here is the schedule for the season if you can’t make it tonight.