J League brings athletes together
Media by John Winka
The Lazy Lakers meet after one of their practices, working on defense for their upcoming game Thursday Jan. 12 against Lord at St. Louis Jewish Community Center. Photograph via John Winka and the Lazy Lakers.
Aadit Keswani, senior, has been playing basketball his whole life and decided to start a basketball team in the J League called CEO, inspired by a group chat name with his friends, for the upcoming season. Their games will be played at The Jewish community center against other teams in the league.
“We saw that a lot of other Marquette people were doing it last year. It was successful for them.” Keswani siad.
Keswani is confident his team will win this year’s championship and said he is ready to dive into the new season. CEO will face off in back-to-back games against their rival, the Lazy Lakers, another J League basketball team.
The fact that we thought we would purely dominate, and bring a great group of guys together to try and win this league.
— Ryan Giordanella
The Lazy Lakers, inspired by Lazy Lake in Fortnite, was set up by senior John Winka. Many of the players on the Lakers such as senior Hayden St. John is worried the team won’t be ready in time with the loss of some of their big men on the court. A big man in basketball is a bigger player on the court. The role of their position is to set screens and drive the ball into the lane.
St. John is joining the Lazy Lakers for this upcoming season after previously playing for the Silly Gooses, another J League team. He said the team is lacking their gameplay, but hopes to see improvement soon.
St. John is willing to alter his role on the team, and is open to step up to the role needed on the team.
“I’m kind of a big man but not really.” St. John said.
Although his main role isn’t that of a big man, he is willing to take on the challenge. This team means a lot to him, so he is willing to make sacrifices.
“This team is my family,” St. John said.
Ryan Giordanella, senior, who has also joined Lazy Lakers this year, hopes to see improvement within the team this upcoming season.
“We’re a little rough right now, picking up the pieces, but they’re coming together,” Giordanella said.
This team is my family.
— Hayden St. John
Giordanella said the team struggles to play defense by not passing the basketball enough. To make up for the losses and struggles they’ve had so far, Nick Ancel, senior, has also joined the Lakers.
“The fact that we thought we would purely dominate, and bring a great group of guys together to try and win this league.” Giordanella said.
The Lazy Lakers will play their first game this Tuesday, Jan. 12, at the St. Louis Jewish Community Center. CEO will play Sunday, Jan 15.
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