Grayslake Central High School boys varsity basketball team finished their competitive season in class 3A with a 20-10 overall and an 11-3 conference record.
Former student Brian Centella is now the boys varsity basketball coach as well as a life fitness educator. He motivates the team by pushing them to their hardest effort physically and mentally, having practice be “competitive, fast-paced, and intense,” said Centella. While practice is intense and not for the weak, “games are a reward” for all of the boy’s hard work, Centella said.
The team doesn’t have one collective set goal to win an average game or win the conference rather that it has small goals to strive for to help improve as a whole team and as individuals. “I think if you get those small little victories both in practice and in games that will correlate to wins and hopefully championships and things like that,” said Centella.
The team setting small goals such as having good plays, and clean plays will assist them in their greater ambitions of winning a game.
The players are passionate about playing basketball and can keep their heads up even when losing. “I would say my teammates are very encouraging” and “our coach, he never lets us put our heads down,” said sophomore Alex Granville.
Although GCHS’s biggest rival is our cross-town neighbor Grayslake North High School, the toughest game this season for the boys was against Grant Community High School. There was a boost in adrenaline around the team when it came to playing Grant. “He [Coach Centella] was saying, like, we got to go to war, all this and we had to be like soldiers and it was pretty tough,” said Alex Granville. This speech was an immense motivation to the varsity boys. They ended up beating Grant in a close game on December 9, 2023 with a final score of 59-52, then another following win on January 26, 2024, with a final score of 50-47.
Even though they had many wins, through the losses they had to keep their heads up. “We can always continue to grow as a team, and there are times when the final score doesn’t always dictate how well or how poorly you played, you know, there could be a game that you’re playing really well, the other team might have just made a few more shots than you that night,” said Centella.
A loss to the team doesn’t control how they will play in their next game, they persevere, look back at the film from their previous game, and see what they can do better as a whole to prepare them for the next game.
Even though pre-game you want to be in a high-spirited mood. “I tell my players when they’re on the court they don’t want their highs too high, and their lows too low, because you’re going to be playing in an emotional state, and you’re not going to be consistent,” said Centella. To continuously do well through a game the team must be “consistent” in a strong mindset of determination to win, and play their absolute best. Pushing through highs and lows “like any other season, we have our ups and downs, but I’ve seen a ton of growth within this team, and I’m really happy about that,” said Centella.
Throughout the season the team and individual boys have advanced and developed more skill, and a strong mindset along the way to the end of the season ending on a strong note.
