Charlie Marcotte’27

I have been new to many things this year. Firstly, I was a new student to Hebron Academy, and I was new to playing basketball. Although the 2025-2026 basketball season may not go down as Hebron’s best season, I believe it was a successful one. The JV team managed to rack up three wins on their way to their JV championship appearance, in which they played a strong game and only lost to Hyde by a few points. As for varsity, the team may have not seen the same success as the JV team had, but they saw success in a different way. Even with the changing roster, Varsity was able to make steady progress. Varsity’s improvement was obvious as each game they seemed to play better even against incredibly tough opponents including a six foot nine giant from Kents Hill.

Just as the teams improved, the players did as well. Everyone left the season a much better player than they started, learning the much needed skills to become a better basketball player. Improvement wasn’t only seen in their skills on the court, it was seen in our character, as players began to emerge as leaders. While our captains obviously showed great leadership other unlikely leaders emerged from the group showing the immense personal growth that everyone had over the course of the season. As we grew ourselves we simultaneously grew as a team. From the first practice to the final practice, strong bonds were created among teammates. Relationships that started off simply as basketball teammates led to friendships outside of basketball. Relationships that were created in the locker rooms or on the bus rides continue to manage to survive once the season met its end. While this season may have consisted of many ups and downs, it was a great season. From the disappointment caused by losing to the pure joy of the JV locker rooms before games, we did it as a team; no one was left out. I will never forget eating a whole big bag of Hint of Lime tortilla chips before one of our home games or our JV locker room nonsense. The 2025-2026 basketball season showed growth both on the court and off the court, and I am excited to see what next season holds.