Varsity Girls Basketball teammates Addi Trull and Izze Peijs share their hopes for the upcoming season and how they got so good. 

Ever since third grade, juniors Addi Trull and Izze Peijs have been playing on the same  basketball teams together. Whether it’s for Shorewood varsity or the Shoreline Spartans, the two work incredibly hard and have high hopes for the upcoming season.

Going into tryouts freshman year, Trulls’ goal was to make varsity. “When I was in middle school I would go to the varsity games with my dad, and it was really fun to see them play, and [getting on varsity] was always kind of a goal.” 

Peijs also wanted to make varsity as a freshman. “That is a goal that I had,” she said.

“I wasn’t expecting [to play on varsity], I kinda moved into it though because I was a swing, and then I moved into being on varsity,” she said. A swing player is a JV player who is selected to train with varsity with the hope that they will eventually play for varsity. 

Both girls made varsity as freshmen, likely a result of how hard they work in the off-season.  Usually they would play for the Spartans, but over quarantine both girls found ways to keep practicing.

 “It was definitely hard, we couldn’t really do team stuff and you had to [train]  by yourself, which was a challenge,” Trull said.  “It was definitely hard the first six to ten months,” Peijs said. 

She was able to keep up her skills by practicing outside and “dribbling in the garage.” Both are happy to be back to a somewhat regular season this year, and are looking forward to the new varsity coach, Brandon Glasser. “He definitely has a lot of big goals for the program and wants us to be very competitive, I think that’s a good goal to have,” Trull said. 

This year along with practices every day after school there are additional Saturday practices. The team is also trying to find a time to all lift together in the weight room, which would be new for the program.

This season with Glasser comes high expectations.“Our goals are definitely very high,” Peijs said. He wants them to “work harder than we have been.” 

There is also a lot of “new talent” coming from the freshman this year. The program has enough girls to have a full roster for varsity, JV, and C team, with many freshmen on varsity. “There’s a lot of really talented people that are freshmen this year,” Peijs said. Both girls are excited for the chance to grow as a program this year. “We’re definitely starting to build back up,” Trull said. 

Peijs and Trull’s favorite aspects of basketball are similar, their teammates.  Trull’s favorite part of basketball is, “building community with my teammates and just having fun,” she said. 

Peijs’s favorite part of basketball is similar. “I think the people, being able to make new friends and create new bonds with people that you normally wouldn’t talk to during the normal school day,” she said. 

“I think the relationships you have with your teammates really makes or breaks the season,” Trull said.