Every winter marks the beginning of a new season of basketball, which brings with it a new team and new challenges. This year’s varsity girls’ basketball team will be welcoming more underclassmen and juniors, one of whom is sophomore Dharini Ramaswamy.
Ramaswamy will be starting as power forward for the varsity team, along with senior point guard Shriya Nagpal, junior power forward Hannah Johnson, sophomore power forward Tivoli Sisco and junior guard Kim Chou.
When she was a freshman, Ramaswamy played on varsity for some games at the end of the season. She switched between point guard, shooting guard and power forward.
“I’m looking forward to getting better individually and as a team,” Ramaswamy said. “It will be exciting to bond with new teammates and learn new skills.”
As someone who hopes to play basketball in college, Ramaswamy is continuously working on improving her game and working to be an integral part of the team. She looks forward to playing on varsity, and challenging herself against tougher teams.
“I’m excited to play Los Gatos this year. They are our rivals and we lost to them by one point in JV last year,” Ramaswamy said. “Their varsity is really good, but I’m hoping we can play well and beat them.”
This year’s team will have its fair share of challenges, since fewer veteran varsity players are on the team.
“This year we have a lot of underclassmen playing and fewer seniors, so we will all have to step it up,” Ramaswamy said. “Also, I think there are a lot more guards than posts, which may present itself as a problem.”
Nagpal has been on varsity since her freshman year and played with Ramaswamy for the final games of last year’s season.
“Dharini a great player; she has good speed, works hard, and is great at improving,” said Nagpal. “But what makes her stand out more than anything is her shooting skills. That girl can shoot.”
It may be a season of hard practices, playing against new rivals in varsity, and bonding with a new team, but it will certainly be an exciting one for Ramaswamy and the team. The boys’ basketball team’s first home game was scheduled for Dec. 14 in the large gym against Milpitas High School.
