Girls basketball designs state champ rings

After+returning+from+San+Antonio+as+5A+state+champs%2C+the+girls+basketball+team+has+the+opportunity+to+design+their+state+champion+rings.+For+the+athletes%2C+this+serve+as+unique+keepsake+from+their+time+together+as+a+team.+

After returning from San Antonio as 5A state champs, the girls’ basketball team has the opportunity to design their state champion rings. For the athletes, this serve as unique keepsake from their time together as a team.

Erika Pernis, Guest Contributer

Along with a trophy and medals, the girls’ varsity basketball has been presented with the opportunity of designing and receiving championship rings in light of their 5A state championship in March. Every player on the roster and the entire team staff, including head coach Ross Reedy, are a part of the process.

“For us, we kind of kept it basic in the sense that we wanted it to be something that the kids would enjoy and like. It had the essentials on there, things that were representative of their accomplishments, but also making it something that they would enjoy and want to wear, so we didn’t make the ring overly big, just something that would be simple, sleek, but also meaningful,” Reedy said via email. “We really wanted to get the kids’ opinion on it because after all, it was their experience and if it had not been for them then we wouldn’t be able to have that type of success, so it’s really important for us to include them.”

For sophomore Jazzy Owens-Barnett, the ring serves as a display of their year together.

“We are thinking about engraving it with some sayings we would write on our board before our games,” Owens-Barnett said via text. “Just to have those memories and remind us of all our hard work.

The ring will have the basics of their team, personalization, and engravings for the team to look back on.

“On the ring is going to be basketball recognition of us being in 5A classification, individual names, and their numbers, and obviously a recognition of it being at Liberty,” Reedy said via email. “As far as the engravings are concerned on the inside I think that’s for the girls so that they can kind of remember their time together, things that were important to them, and sayings that were important to them.”

To junior Lily Ziemkiewicz, the ring is a portrayal of how her team worked tirelessly and diligently to get to this point.

“To me getting the state champion rings is a representation of all the long hours our team has put in the gym together and what we have accomplished,” Ziemkiewicz said via text. “It will forever be a reminder that we won state together, but it holds my memories of getting up early to have some of the hardest practices of my life to prepare us to be able to earn that ring and means that each and every one of us, the coaches, the managers, every player worked as hard as they could to make it possible for us to be state champions.”