Eighth graders from the local middle schools can try out for junior varsity sports at the high school. Eighth grader Austin White is the only eighth grader on the JV boy’s basketball team this year. White is a student at Thomas Harrison Middle School. He believes he is ready for the early step-up. White’s older brother, A.C White, is the quarterback of the HHS varsity football team.

“He’s doing a lot of good things. I really look up to him as an older brother, as a role model because he’s worked and worked and worked and a lot of people see where he is at right now in the high school” White said. A.C. plays many sports including varsity football and varsity basketball. These two brothers are close to each other not in age but in their love for sports.

“In regards to Austin, Austin works very hard. He has a very high basketball IQ, but also he’s getting the opportunity to play with the junior varsity guys. It’s an opportunity he earned. He earned this opportunity. He performed well in tryouts, he did all the little things, as well as he was having success out there and that’s a reason why he made that team,” coach Don Burgess said.

“It’s been a long four years and I’m ready to kind of come up with the older kids” White said. He stayed confident during tryouts.

“It kept going through my mind that there’s a lot of older kids and so am I going to show up or am I going to get intimidated by the older kids. You have to just come out and do your best” Austin said.

According to his coaches, Austin seems to be doing very well for an eighth grader. Both he and his coaches are confident he will do great things this season with the help of his coaches and teammates.