The final buzzer blared and echoed through the packed gym at St. Andrew’s Episcopal School, symbolizing both the end of the championship and the Lions’ basketball season. As they walked towards the locker room, the boys untucked their blue jerseys, disappointed to see their season come to a close without a championship banner. However, the five younger members of the team still have a long journey ahead of themselves.
For the second year, the varsity boys basketball team has formed a spring team to continue playing and growing together during the off-season. The spring team is not technically affiliated with JDS, but it is composed only of JDS basketball players. The assistant coaches of the boys varsity team, Daraun Grey and Jacob Krause, act as the head coaches of the spring team; part of that job is developing players from the past season’s junior varsity team during the spring league. The players themselves all pitch in to cover the team’s tournament costs and other expenses.
“I love playing basketball, and there’s people on the team [who] have just become so much closer that it’s just—even just staying after school with them, before practices—it’s all just fun,” junior Dylan Shank said.
Two years ago, Pete Federowicz, the team administrator and father of sophomore David Federowicz, who is a member of the team, started spring basketball as a way to give the boys a chance to play together during the offseason.
The spring team usually practices twice a week at the Upper School and plays in tournaments throughout the spring season. According to Federowicz, they do not have any officially scheduled tournaments this year, but they have “preliminary ideas” they are working on. Last year, the team participated in three tournaments with varying levels of competition across the greater Washington area.
During last year’s basketball season, the team had one senior, meaning only one player left after the winter; this meant that the spring team served as a way for the team to continue playing together and improve their skills in preparation for the official PVAC season. This year, however, with nine senior players leaving, the spring team has an opportunity to develop up-and-coming players from the varsity bench and the JV team.
“It’s a great opportunity for some of the younger guys to make their mark and to show how much they’ve been growing,” Head Coach Ryan Eskow said.
Although he does not have an official role with the spring team, Eskow is present at some of their workouts and practices due to his role as head coach. He believes the spring practices and tournaments, and the competition they bring, are the perfect opportunity for the team to improve both their basketball skills and their chemistry.
“Development is the ultimate goal,” Eskow said. “I’d rather us play tough competition and lose every game, than play easy competition and win every game.”
Because so many seniors are graduating, there are gaps in the lineup; however, Eskow is hopeful that it will not affect the team’s overall results. He is confident that the returning players know what the team’s standards are from both a “basketball standpoint and a social standpoint,” which will allow them to step into new roles on the team.
Shank is one of only five players returning to the varsity team, and of those guys, he was the only one who played major minutes. Shank knows there are big roles for him and his fellow juniors, Caleb Berman and Shia Messler, to fill. Shank is also grateful for the developmental opportunities the spring team provides.
“We’re getting better in preparation for when it matters and more important games,” Shank said. “So it’s not as intense, but at the same time, we’re still playing hard. We still work.”
While some other teams organize a spring season as well, the seniors’ departure allows the JDS team to use its spring season to prepare for next year rather than dwell on the past season.
“It’s all the things that you do whenever no one’s watching that allow you to succeed when the season’s on the line,” Federowicz said.
