The Blue Streaks girls basketball team is in the midst of training for the upcoming winter sport. Starting pre-season training soon after the beginning of the school year, the ladies work on getting stronger for the season. Preseason training consists of shooting drills, offensive and defensive series, individual skill drills and lifting weights. Head coach Durmont Perry has been working to make sure the team starts the season strong.

“For us it’s important to start training before the season because we don’t want to go into the season out of shape. If we can already be into shape when the season starts, that’s one less thing that we have to work on,” Perry said.

For freshman Mariah Cain, the season is more of a time to work on fine-tuning skills, whereas the pre-season is for getting more powerful.

“During the season we don’t really get a lot of time to go in the weight room and run because we have other things to deal with for games. It’s important to get conditioning in and get stronger,” Cain said.

Getting in the gym earlier in the season also helps them get to know one another, and build a team community.

“Getting the girls to bond makes it a whole lot easier for them to communicate with one another. One thing you’ll hear our girls talk about is [that] when we travel we take their cell phones from them. It allows them to talk more [and] it helps them when they’re on the court,” Perry said. “When you get a strong knit group of girls together that trust each other, that’s what you’re looking for.”