As the Venice Boys Varsity basketball team begins a new season, the team is merging new and returning players in hopes of making their way up to the playoffs. Varsity Coach David Galley is ready to see how his players will challenge themselves this season.  

“This year’s team is very competitive, and since we’re bringing back some players from last year’s team, they have their eye on the prize on doing well so we can get a good playoff seed and hopefully get as far as we can,” said Coach Galley. 

He is especially looking forward to seeing how the seniors on the team will finish out their last year in playing high school basketball. 

“There are a wide range of expectations, I expect everyone to be there giving effort especially certain seniors because they have been on the varsity team for two, three, or four years so their expectation in terms of minutes played and statistics are a little different,” said Galley. “We have some seniors that were first-year varsity players and they have to play the role of being the team guy so they might not get as many minutes as everyone else but they are still expected to come to practice everyday and work hard. Honestly I just expect my seniors to lead by example so the next group can follow their lead.” 

Joining the team are three transfer players from Fairfax and Westchester who are all 6-foot-5 or taller.

On Dec. 11, the boys won their game against Hamilton 64- 41.

Unfortunately, The boys lost their first game on Nov. 21st against St. Bernard High School with a score of 81-40.

 Despite the lost, captain Ja’sean Johnson isn’t going to let the team get discouraged for their upcoming games. 

“This season I am looking forward to a positive record as well as winning a ring in city championships,” said Varsity Captain Ja’sean Johnson.  “Everyday I expect my teammates to bring effort every single day and encourage all of our teammates.” 

With practices before and after school, Johnson and fellow captain Frankie Sandoval are expecting their teammates to put in more effort if they want to make into championships. 

After their rough season last year, they are ready to push each other to change and play hard during each one of their games. 

The finish a tough week with their sixth game of the week and won’t have a home game until the end of January.