At this time in 1994-95

It was at this time in 1994-95. My fellow classmates and I were getting ready for basketball season. This was the first time playing basketball when the games counted. Our coaches were Jeff Wagner and Jim Henning. The guys on that team were Jamie Westerheide, Ryan Ratermann, Beau Sweigart, Jarrod Stewart, Matt Zimmerman, David Hodapp, Paul Webster, Tony Meyer, Tony Henning, Joe Schmeising, Jake Sinclair, Justin Frantz and myself. I remember tryouts were tough, Mikan Drills, laps, 8:00-9:30 AM practices on Saturday’s. Jeff and Jim made practices fun. At the end of the tryouts, Coach Wagner had us go behind the curtain on stage. I remember sitting in between Dave and Matt on the stage and Coach Wagner said to us: “this is a basketball team, you guys are my team”. Dave said, “congrats Luke, you made the team”. I was ecstatic. I was so excited I could not wait to tell my Dad when I got to the car and I remember Matt Zimmerman called our house that night to see how excited Mom and Dad were for me. I remember a few days later, I was at a girls game or a meet the team night. My history teacher was in attendance and he informed me saying “just because your on the basketball team does not mean you can slack off in the classroom”. We played Versailles in our first game on the road. At a lot of our road games, we had to sit on stages. We went 0-13 that year. There were a couple games we should have won. I do think we should have beat Anna, who beat us by 4 and should have beat Piqua Catholic the first time we played them. I was the only one on the team that did not score, however I had a more important job to do, just like any other 12th man; cheering on his teammates. I was the Most Spirited award winner for the 1994-95 Holy Angels Wings. Making the 7th grade basketball team is one of my proudest athletic achievements. I am thankful for the opportunity that Jeff and Jim gave me.