The summer months give kids plenty of possibilities of how to spend their time.

Fulton Shootout Photo Gallery

For the North Callaway girls, there have been several reasons why they haven’t had a big roster for shootouts including, not limited to, other summer camps, other sports and injuries. Still, the Ladybirds played competitively and ended their shootout schedule with close losses on June 24 at the Fulton league shootout.

North Callaway’s varsity girls lost close games to Fulton and Southern Boone and a junior varsity contest to Southern Boone. But head coach Andrew Klein said that is just a small sample of the type of summer the Ladybirds have had, finishing around .500 with some tight losses for about a total of 20 games that covers varsity and junior varsity.

“I don’t think I can get too much more effort from those girls,” Klein said. “Those girls are asked to do a lot. We have morning workouts, and they’re playing other sports. The commitment to basketball, even though it’s five months away, is awesome.”

Klein said the 10 girls that played in the Fulton shootout games are the most North Callaway has had at a shootout this season. Some games, including at the Harrisburg shootout, the Ladybirds only had five girls available to play. 

This all can’t be helped, Klein said, as girls have other commitments in the summer or just can’t play. Lakyn Hartley and Anna Shryock sustained injuries during the summer so Klein isn’t concerned by the amount of girls he had. He expects to have double the amount he had for the Fulton shootout.

“Five of them are freshmen,” Klein said. “That last game, I was able to do hockey lineups — five-in-five-out sort of situation. It’s fun to watch because they’re different basketball players. The older kids have a little more knowledge, and the younger kids have got a little more pep in their step because they hadn’t really done it before and they’re trying to prove something.”

The girls that have been able to devote a year-round schedule to basketball have displayed growth from the first day on, Klein said. The usually quicker-paced varsity game has slowed down for a certain few girls.

Klein said Livia Hartley has already shown good ball-handling skills and poise, and Sophie Olsson has shown a “football” toughness reminiscent of her older brother and Westminster College football player Payton Olsson. He added that the new addition to his staff this year and new junior varsity coach Liv Gowin has done well on the sideline so far. 

Considering that Klein had a limited roster this summer and at least preserved a chance for victory in all of them, he said he can’t wait to see what North Callaway does during the season.

“There were a couple of them where we only had five girls,” Klein said. “We had no subs in the summer where we’re not very conditioned, but we played pretty good for that. When you’re called upon then, you know you can’t get subbed out so you have to figure it out on the fly. We learned a lot.”