Five seconds left on the clock, and Lily veers up the right side of the court with perfect dribbling. She sees the clock and notices only three seconds are left, and her team is down 71 to 72 in the game of their lives. Lily spots Ava open in the middle, foot in the paint ready to shoot. Lily makes a perfect pass to Ava, who shoots the ball right before the buzzer sounds. The crowd watches in awe. The basketball swishes through the net for a game winning point. “The Bobcats Win!” the entire bench screams. 

Basketball season is a very competitive time in many middle schoolers’ lives. Every game counts as every girl and boy hopes to play well enough to make it into the elite Padre Serra tournament. The St. Robert Bobcats have many exciting things going for them when it comes to basketball. They have excited and hard working players, a long history, and effective plays and tactics to win.

Every player has set the Padre as a goal as they hope to show off their amazing basketball skills. Lily, a four year veteran to Bobcat basketball, says, “I love basketball. It gives you something to look forward to. I [want] to get better.” Lily and others on the St. Robert basketball team has a fiery spirit that makes them excited for game and ready to work hard. Basketball is a sport that gives kids  time to release their energy while having fun and honing their skills. “I love basketball, and I love spending time with my friends,” says Ava, another excited player. Basketball gives students a way to spend time with their friends while leaving behind the nerve-racking school environment. The sport also lets kids show off their athletic abilities.

In order to sail into the Padre, the St. Robert Bobcats call upon a number of great plays and tactics to defeat their opponents. In basketball, effective teams must have both offensive and defensive plays, all which share a common goal: gain points or regain the ball possession in order to gain points. The boys basketball team uses numbers to name their many offensive plays. Their main defensive plays were “212” for zone defense, and man-on-man for regular play. On the other hand, the girls team named plays after colleges instead of numbers. They have many different plays ranging from Marquette plays to North Carolina plays. For defense when playing in a zone, the girl’s basketball team would mostly play “131”, but for regular defense, they would also play man-on-man like the boys’ team. 

As the eighth graders gear up, hoping to make it to the Seton, they look back on the long history the school has played within the local basketball community. The Bobcats have played in the Padre Serra many times and have done really well. The St. Robert Bobcats have won the tournament three times. The boys won twice in 1963 and 1968, and the girls won once in 1982. Also, the boy Bobcats have been runners up twice in 1999 and 2006. The last time the Bobcats have placed in the Padre Serra tournament was in 2011 when the girls placed third. Through the tournaments and games leading up to the Padre, many fans attend the games, cheering for their team, again and again, to hopefully find a way back into the winners circle. The Bobcats have a great fan section filled with screaming, joyous fans ready to support their team through any bad games as well as championship wins. 

The boys and girls basketball teams are very excited to play the game this season and are ready to dominate on the court. They are ready to dribble shoot, and score their way to the Padre Serra tournament. The teams have hard working players, solid game tactics, and a good history of winning to lean upon. Everyone is very excited to hit the floor, and show off their skills to all the other schools teams.