On Vs. Off The Court! 

 Wheaton offers a variety of sports teams. But we don’t really know all of them on a personal level. Getting to know our athletes can help students understand them less as athletes for entertaining games but as people with a passion for their sport. In that spirit, we went into the lives of the Basketball Players Wheaton, off the court.

We spoke to 3 of Wheaton’s most passionate players. Starting off with Ethan ‘27, we discussed how he balances school and work, all while doing sports as well. He states that “...with work, once you can find a certain schedule and know how many days a week you work, every other day that you don’t (is) when you use your time to the fullest.” He also says that he tries “to get all your schoolwork done at school so that once 2:30 hit (the end of school)... whatever you have to do for your body, college, or your sport, you're able to do. We also asked how he prepares for the game off the court. Before games, he states he “doesn’t like to eat too much… something very light or small snacks.” He also tries to “rest and watch basketball. Not even studying film, just watch something to keep (me) focused.” Ethan carries a lot on his plate that we would never know about without asking, some of which we could relate to like work and school. Puts a more personal face to the Wheaton’s Basketball team.

Another player from the team we talked to was Amon Binyam ,‘27. Amon is a senior on our Wheaton basketball team and this is his 3rd year playing at Wheaton. We asked if it would be difficult for him to take last years success into this year. He shared, "It will be difficult by the fact that we had a lot of seniors graduate, but I am confident we will thrive from being the underdogs because a lot of people think this season will not be as good as last years.” We further asked how he makes improvement and he shared, “I make sure to watch film on mistakes I have made in past, make sure to stay active in the gym a lot and eat good food. I also condition by running early mornings to make sure I am in great shape to play all 4 quarters at an elite pace.” Amon has a lot of confidence going into this year and expects big things for this season as we all should!

Lastly was Alexi, ‘29, a player fairly new to varsity. We asked what it was like to transition from JV to varsity. He felt as if the transition itself was hard, mainly because of the size difference and how fast paced varsity is. He did mention that he enjoyed the competition and how challenging it can be for him, the level of competition allows him to improve with every game that he plays. 

That’s just a small look into the lives of the amazing student athletes of Wheaton High School, there are so many more to cover!