Eight senior boys made up half of the varsity basketball roster this year. Darby, Ethan, Will, Noah, Josh, Tristen, Alex and Justis; on the surface, they’re just names. If you search deeper between the team’s layers of early 7 a.m. practices, weight room sessions, Marble Falls tournaments and 1,000 points scored countdowns, you’ll find that over the past four years, these eight players have built a brotherhood out of love, grit and determination. It wasn’t until this year that all seven seniors were able to join together on the varsity roster, and they didn’t put it to waste. The Knights finished the season second in district, a record of 10-2, a playoff bid and multiple district, region and all-star recognitions.
That widespread success didn’t come out of the blue. A majority of the team has known each other since elementary school, and they were given the opportunity to refine their passion for the sport while at Lamar Middle School before moving onto McCallum. Over the years, these seniors have played, grown and pushed each other to be better. A key factor to that growth is the friendship that basketball has provided them with.
To senior guard Ethan Plummer, the connections he’s been able to find within the sport are one of the reasons it holds such a special place in his heart.
“I think basketball connects with real life a ton,” Plummer said. “It’s great to have a similar drive and passion for a sport that kind of connects you with someone. For all of us, we shared the same kind of passion for getting better, and that has led to a lot more success that we had this year.”
The passion that Plummer describes stems from a love for the game and fellow teammates, but also a drive to grow as an individual player. This past season was the first that a few of the seniors had the opportunity to join the varsity roster. In order to expand their skillset to the point to gain a coveted position on the roster, the seniors had to rely on one another to push each other. For team leaders, such as Plummer and Darby Roldan, the ability to get onto one another to excel is of utmost importance.
Plummer explained the way he took on the position of a leader on the team was influenced by past, graduated seniors who led through a lens of accountability and truthfulness.
“I honestly think the quality of a really good leader is knowing that you shouldn’t always be the nice guy,” Plummer said. “As the leader of the team, it’s not always about just patting your guy on the back. It’s saying, ‘hey, look this was wrong and you can be better.’ I took on that role as a guy who is fine with people being mad at me for a day or two because I got onto them. I think that’s a quality of a leader that I learned from past seniors, like Felix Kahlor, and I definitely started using it this year.”
Senior forward Darby Roldan backed Plummer up on the stance of the importance of pushing accountability onto fellow team members, especially from the place of a senior leader.
“Every team needs accountability, and it can seem hard to get mad or call out one of your teammates when they might be one of your best friends from school, or someone you barely know,” Roldan said. “But without honesty and accountability nobody will succeed.”
The sense of accountability that was pushed onto each other from leaders such as Roldan and Plummer, and the entire team as a whole, led to an environment where every player felt that they were appreciated and a true part of the team. According to junior guard Miller Stephens, during the previous season, there were multiple impactful senior leaders. The incoming class had big shoes to fill, but they excelled in their positions.
“There were especially big leadership roles to fill,” Stephens said. “They started to adjust in the off-season and really began to enter their new roles. They started to lead the energy, and they always made it feel like we were coming into a community. Every single senior was great, they were all super welcoming and nice.”
The energy of hard work and fun– with a sense of accountability– that Stephens described allowed for seniors to grow their friendships with each other but also their own relationship with the sport as a whole. To varsity head coach Daniel Fuentes, the head-down determination and work put in by the seniors really began to shine this year. In the past, Fuentes recognized the talent that certain players held, but he also dealt with backlash for not playing them. He knew that if he waited for the consistency he wanted to see, the entire team would benefit, and that’s exactly what happened.
“Last year, I had everybody telling me I’m crazy about having Darby, my 6’7” kid, come off the bench,” Fuentes said. “Darby ended up weathering the storm. He knew at the end what we wanted. He had good moments last year, but I needed to see consistency and that’s what he gave me. This year, he ended up not just having a good year, it was fantastic. He was co-defensive player of the year for the district which was huge.”
The daily grit and consistent determination that Fuentes pushed for his seniors to garner ended up transpiring into one of his most valued times with the players.
“I love the grind and I love the everyday,” Fuentes said. ”I love the stuff at practice where we’re serious, but then in between, I’m talking to the guys, kind of playing around and developing our relationship with each other and the game. That’s what I really love.”
There are countless memories held together by the seniors. From the iconic, early-season overnight Subway Classic Tournament held annually in Marble Falls, to team dinners and endless stories, it’s clear that the seven seniors will take the lessons learned over the years into the rest of their lives. The environment and team culture led by the seniors was grown by experience, but it also made a brotherhood that will outlast any stat line.
“To me, the brotherhood we’ve built represents a relationship,” Roldan said. “A relationship we’ve built with guys that will fight for each other, support each other and respect each other all in order to win as a whole, as a family.”
