December 4

Wednesday afternoon: went over to McCaskey after supper for the boys' basketball practice, they were scheduled for 5:30 to 7:30 since this week is the girls team's turn at the 3:30-5:30 slot. I was there because Coach Powell had planned to issue uniforms and I wanted to get the player's numbers for the scorebooks. Over the last twenty years or so the varsity has received new uniforms every three seasons, the current unis are then handed down to the JV and theirs are given to the freshman team. I figured we were due for new uniforms but I was surprised to see that the coaches elected to outfit both varsity and JV with brand-new gear. The new uniforms were ordered with numbers from 0 to 5, 10 to 15, 20 to 25, 30 to 35 and 40 to 45. In the past our JV teams wore the same number series the varsity had, the new jerseys allow movement between rosters with no worry of duplicate numbers (makes my job easier). Twenty-six uniforms were handed out, eleven to the varsity and fifteen to the JV. The opening-night varsity roster consists of one returnee, seven players from the '12-'13 JV squad and three newcomers. By contrast Coach Mike Mitchell's JV squad has two returnees, it's a rare occurrence when that number is greater at the junior varsity level. If I were a forecaster I would say that the varsity has the potential to be very good once the relative inexperience catches up to the talent. I don't expect an undefeated season but I don't think we'll be 5-17 either, it's just a matter of how quickly things mesh together. The typically tough non-league gauntlet begins on Saturday the 7th, the varsity meets Philadelphia Roman Catholic at Lower Merion HS in Ardmore (suburban Philly). The first home game is on the 11th against Chester, that will be my season debut since the Royals are at home on the 7th. Take care, thanks for reading.