Lewis-Palmer High School’s varsity boys basketball team has played four games this season so far. The 2016-2017 team has a variety of seniors, juniors, and sophomores.

One player, Joel Scott 10, is playing for the first time with an official spot on the varsity team. Last year, Scott played limited time of varsity games as a freshman because he was on the junior varsity team and swung varsity. This year the boy’s basketball coach put him officially on the varsity team.

“It is really fun being on the varsity team and definitely a lot better than just swinging for varsity. One of the biggest differences of being on the varsity team is that I do not have to sit the bench for most of the season,” Scott said.

Scott had a strong tryout and was able to show his coach that he was ready to be on the varsity team for good. He grew up with four older brothers who all played sports for Lewis-Palmer. Both of Scott’s parents played competitive sports as well, he is excited to continue playing for Lewis-Palmer and finish what his brothers started and the family’s legacy.

“One thing I am looking forward to for the season is playing in home games,” Scott said. “Home games are probably my favorite because we get to play in our own gym and have all of our fans there to support us.”

The season has been successful for the team this year only losing one game. After the season ended last year, the varsity team lost five seniors and students at the school thought the team was going to struggle after losing them.

“Compared to last years team, I think that this year’s team has good athletes and we will do as well as we did last year. I believe that the team has the ability to make it pretty far into the playoffs and maybe even have a chance at winning state,” Scott said.

Scott has multiple positions on the team but the position he plays most often is a small forward. Since he made varsity this year he is able to play in all the games and does not have to sit the bench for most of the games. Last year he lettered as a freshman because while he got to play in the games he scored points for the team.

“The best thing about officially being on the varsity team is that there is more competition than on the junior varsity and c-squad teams,” Scott said. “I am looking forward to playing with my team and seeing how successful we will be by the end of the season.”