(Cayleigh Griffin, a senior captain on the Trinity Catholic High School girls basketball team, is blogging about her experiences during the season.)
By Cayleigh Griffin
“I can’t. I have basketball.”
This seems to be the latest of my excuses as to why I can’t go hang out with my friends or attend other functions. For the next three months (and the one and a half that have already passed), I have chosen for the fourth year in a row to forego my vacations and a lot of my free time to the Trinity Catholic girls basketball team.
It seems unreal to think yet again that I am in my final season on this team. I can remember trying out for the team freshman year like it was yesterday. Clare O’Leary, Eileen Ornousky and I were so worried that we would get cut, and now here we are at the end of our high school basketball careers as captains.
Although the season is very long and free time is a rarity, I would not trade the seasons I have had for anything. Not many people can say they had the opportunity to join the starting lineup with Da’Shena Stevens, the Big East Freshman of the Year in 2009.
We are four games into the season and are ready to start fresh in the New Year. Our first two games were slow and out of sync, forcing us to refocus and pick up our game.
Our motto this year is, “Some wish for it, we work for it.” With that in mind, we pulled together, were able to pick it up in the next two games to get the W. We’ve had an extensive break this vacation considering we were not in a tournament this year.
That being said, our practices have been tough and we’ve been working hard to strengthen our overall game. I’m confident in what this team can achieve this year.
It’s impossible to see the FCIAC and state banners hanging in the gym and not want to be up there too. For the three captains, there would be nothing better then adding a third FCIAC medal to our collection. A state ring would be even sweeter.
We have a long road ahead of us but look forward to starting up again today. We face rival Fairfield Warde at home. I’m sure it will be a battle.
For the other three seniors on the team, softball season is on the horizon, allowing them to hang on a little longer to being a Crusader. For me, this is it. I want to honor the longstanding tradition of outstanding girls basketball at Trinity Catholic and, with my girls, go out with a bang.
Cayleigh,
Great job on your blog. Who do you think will be the tough teams you face the rest of the year??? Danbury, Ridgefield and etc. Do you think you will be one of the teams to be in the FCIAC playoffs? It sounds like you and your team have been working very hard. What is one thing you think you are missing from your team this year??? Good Luck the rest of the way!!!!
Comment by Donald C — January 6th, 2010 @ 1:58 pm
This is from Cayleigh: Donald, thank you so much! The league is very balanced this year and I think we will have many tough games left this season. I think Trinity definitely has a good shot at FCIACs and it is one of our goals. In terms of missing something, I’m not sure we are. We just needed to find a flow and things are really starting to come together for us now. Thank you for all the positive feedback!
Comment by Dave Ruden — January 7th, 2010 @ 9:34 pm