First year playing for Fossil Ridge; it’s not so intimidating after all

Emily Brey • February 7, 2016

Most freshmen enter the front doors to Fossil with wide eyes and a lingering scary feeling that they are about to be dropped onto an island with a blank map. When you add sports into the mix, and the fact that all grades 9-12 play and tryout together, it can be a bit overwhelming.

The underclassmen athletes here at Fossil have continued to exceed the previous years’ talent and impress the coaches more and more as the years roll by. The current class of freshman have given some of the upperclassmen a run for their money when it comes to playing time. Freshman Kaysen Hobbs, Ashley Steffeck, and Macy Klein, gave some input on their perspectives on what it is like to play basketball for Fossil Ridge as freshman.

Macy Klein and Kaysen Hobbs play together on Fossil’s C team. Hobbs a key player for this team as well as a suitor for JV, finds herself playing either center or post for the team while Klein can be found playing point guard and shooting guard. Both girls mentioned that balancing their homework with their social lives and being on the team has been a bit difficult, but has at the same time made the transition into high school much easier. “It’s really fun playing for the school because it’s another way to represent Fossil even though I’m not on varsity.” Klein commented. Hobbs said quickly after, “We act as a family more than a team. The season is going very well and we, as a team work well together.” It’s clear to see that this team of freshman has a strong bond and that bond has lead them to success throughout the season so far. Both Klein and Hobbs look forward to the rest of their season as well as their high school career.After an easy and solid transition from middle school to the big leagues, these freshmen are headed towards great things as Sabercats.

Ashley Steffeck is a whole exciting story on her own. Being the only freshman on Varsity this year, she found it crucial that she was going to have to bring her best to every game and practice, and play as hard or harder than any of the other girls on the team. “I have made many friends while playing, many of them being upperclassmen. The upperclassmen treat me as if I am one of them, and are hilarious to be around. Basketball also helps me with academics because I know I need to get my work done.” Ashley has positioned herself very well, being a freshman this skilled, to find success with the rest of her time here at Fossil concerning academics as well as basketball. She said she can’t wait to keep playing in front of her peers and parents for Fossil Ridge.

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Along with these three freshman, there is a handful more that are playing this year and will come back for the 2016-2017 season. It’s awesome to have such a strong group of players introduced to our school; it looks like there are good things to come for the Sabercats.

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About the Contributor

Emily Brey, Sports Editor

Emily Brey is a senior at Fossil Ridge High School who is in her third year on the Etched In Stone staff and is Co-Editor of the Sports BEAT. Emily plays varsity soccer for Fossil and also plays for Arsenal Colorado on the ‘00 Academy team. She is committed to play soccer at Colorado State University - Pueblo and plans to study business and law in college. After attending CSUP, she hopes to attend CU where she will go for her MBA.

Between taking on a full schedule and all of her extracurricular commitments, Emily is a very busy bee this year. Emily is serving as Vice President of FBLA here at Fossil, and is a member of Key Club and NTHS (National Technical Honor Society). She is an ambitious young lady whose reliability, organization, and work ethic has helped her achieve many goals in her time thus far at Fossil Ridge. She is a huge fan of Lana Del Rey and the bands, All Time Low, SWMRS, Waterparks, and The Wrecks. She enjoys spending time outside and organizing things, which relaxes her. When she isn’t covering a story or playing soccer, Emily enjoys being a homebody and watching movies.

The friendly, family-like environment that the journalism program at Fossil encompasses has been something she has valued since freshman year. She would love to be able to continue journalistic work after high school. Emily looks forward to leading the Journalism 1 writers, no matter if that’s in journalism or just life in general. Plus, she hopes to inspire the younger writers to report on other topics besides sports, just because that’s something that she wishes she would’ve done the past two years. Her main goal for the year in journalism is to get better with her coverage, especially with using multiple media platforms. Emily wants to try and expand from her comfort zone of sports writing, hoping to experience writing different journalistic topics.