Facing Challenges, Walls Basketball Teams Stay Optimistic

Being an athlete at Walls doesn’t come without challenges. The basketball players are no exception, facing their own set of obstacles going into the 2024-25 season. As Walls does not have any athletic facilities, members of the two basketball teams have to travel on public transportation to their practices. Last year, the girls' team practiced at Luke C. Moore Alternative High School in Brookland and the boys’ team practiced at the old Banneker.  

This year, however, there is a different challenge. Both teams have late practices at the newly renovated John Francis School, and will often have to share the court. To make matters worse, John Francis is only an elementary and middle school, so the court isn’t full size for high school.  

Girls basketball player Lili Dietz (Power Forward ‘28) explained that the small practice area makes it hard to work on realistic-game situations. She said, “the main issue with our practice situation is we have to share a small court with the boys which minimizes the things that we can practice, such as fast breaks or full court games.”

However, as boys basketball player Isaac Wallsten (Small Forward ‘27) added, this unique situation has created and strengthened connections with other teammates. “That chemistry definitely shows up on the court,” said Wallsten. He also noted that facing a challenge different from what any other school they play faces gives them confidence. Furthermore, Isaac said that everyone is grateful for Athletic Director Kip Smith “for constantly finding us practice locations—he works extremely hard to do it, and we recognize his efforts and how much more he has to do because of the situation.”

Despite the challenges, both teams have high hopes for the season.

Dietz (‘28) is excited for the season to start, saying, “I’m looking forward to playing with everybody, to see where we’re at as a team and how we can improve as we progress.” She feels optimistic about a potential playoff run, saying, “we have a really good base, I think it just depends how much we really want to.”

Wallsten (‘27) is confident this will be the “best season in Walls basketball history.”  He added, “We have great coaches and a very talented group with a lot of chemistry.” He also noted that there is excellent leadership from seniors this year, which will be vital in a strong playoff run.

So despite all of the typical adversities that come with being an athlete, both the girls’ and boys’ teams have high expectations this season. Both teams must learn to work together and develop strong foundations if they want to be successful.