Westside Girls Use Team building to Garner Success

Senior+Ella+Wedergren+is+a+leader+on+and+off+the+court+for+Westside.

Emma Rieser

Senior Ella Wedergren is a leader on and off the court for Westside.

In case you have been living under a rock, the Westside varsity girls basketball team is 13-4 and at the top of their game.  We see the buckets, we see the W’s, we see the chemistry, but how does this all come together?

 This team lives by the motto of BCD. No blaming, no complaining, and no deflecting one’s behaviors. Coach Clark believes this is so important.

Taking ownership for one’s behavior can help everyone make better choices.  It creates a more trustworthy, positive environment,” Clark said. “A connected team can overcome adversity more often and can beat a more talented team that isn’t connected.”

Trust is a huge part of this teams’ success because with trust comes a connection between the players. Team sponsor DJ Rezac agreed with Coach Clark. 

“Adversity come to us all. In athletics, sometimes multiple times in a game, heck even a quarter. So, the connection is so important because it is really easy to behave when things are going well, but when adversity strikes are we going to be so connected as a team that we will still behave how we said we would,” Rezac said.  That connection is so important to do anything great. It’s so much more enjoyable to go on a journey together.”

 Number four on Max Prep’s Nebraska’s Sharpest Shooters list is senior Ella Wedergren. She too attributes the teams’ success to the concept of BCD stating the concept build trust. 

“We make an effort to be together and build that bond,” Wedergren said. “It feels really good to be a part of something bigger than yourself.”

To build the bond they participate in many activities together such as bowling, eating together before games and even working together to get out of escape rooms.  Wedergren mentions that the team has recently went to Arizona together for a week and participated in a medieval times simulation. She made it clear the girls are intentional about spending time together.