Sophomore Andrew Loveall‘s passion is playing basketball. He began playing when he was eight or nine before joining his middle school team. Last year he played on the freshman team at Olathe North, and this year he transferred to Southwest and now plays for the sophomore team.

Q: Why did you start playing?

A: It just seemed like a fun sport, and it was active and I was always active as a child. I like that there’s a team sport and there’s other players on the court, and then also that it’s indoor, so you can play pretty much year round. 

Q: How was transition from middle to high school basketball?

A: I think the transition from middle to high school was a lot smoother. They’re a lot more similar than the transition from elementary to middle school because I was just shifting from a club team to the school team, whereas middle to high school was both school teams. The practice times for the school team always seem better because for the club teams, we didn’t practice right after school — it was more in the evenings, and so I’ve just been able to have my evenings a little more open having practice right after school.

Q: Is playing for the school team here more stressful?

A: I think there’s a little more pressure just because it’s an older age group and you’re expected to be better, but it’s not necessarily more stressful. 

Q: Do you want to continue playing after high school? 

A: I’d be interested in playing in college. I feel like it’s a pretty big commitment — it definitely would have to be something I’d think about more. But I think I may be interested. I think if I was going to play basketball, I would want to go to a state school as opposed to a community college.

Q: What is your favorite part of being on the team here?

A: I like just obviously getting to play basketball as well as that team feeling. You see all the other players in the hall throughout the day, and then you just get to have special times like riding the bus back and forth and things like that. I feel like we [my teammates and I] have grown closer throughout the season.

Q: What is the training like for the sophomore team?

A: We practice generally every day after school for an hour and a half to two hours, and then on Saturdays we have a two hour practice as well in the morning. A lot of times we just do drills and then warm-ups, and sometimes we scrimmage during those practices.

Q: Do you have a favorite moment from a practice or game?

A: I don’t necessarily have one favorite moment, but I enjoy winning obviously, and then just like the feeling after you come away with a victory. It’s a team feeling — in basketball you have teammates to rely on — it’s not entirely on you to win.