Jason Efstathiou, the new boy’s basketball coach, surprised all of his players the last week of October when he told them to each carry a basketball on campus everyday until the end of their season. At first, not all of the players took their coach seriously and were shocked when Mr. E  made it a requirement.

But what they did not expect was for other students to begin knocking the basketballs out of their hands.

This was because earlier Mr. E had been telling classes that if students could get the ball out of his players’ hands they would have to drop and do 25 push-ups.

The rules are simple. First, students can only knock the ball out of a player’s’ hands while outdoors at lunch or on break. Staff members only may do so indoors.

The players are then required to do 25 push-ups on the spot. And finally, they cannot argue or show disrespect to anyone who knocks the ball out of their hands.

Mr. E’s idea was initially to have his players spend more time with a ball in their hand and also to have the school get to know the basketball players better. And it’s working. The players’ challenge has been a buzz and students now are starting to recognize them.

Mr. E said, “A lot of it had to do with kids not being strong enough with the basketball and it was a good way to get attention here on campus. Probably one of the biggest reasons is that it gives them an opportunity during breaks to actually work on ball handling.”

His goals of the challenge are to strengthen his team’s ball handling skills and to have the students at SJHHS get excited about the boy’s basketball season. So far, he has been successful.

“People are getting all pumped up about it too and I was hoping it would spread around campus. The guys are kinda paranoid walking around with the ball which is good, but at the same time we’re building good habits…and honestly I feel like building habits is everything that the program is predicated on,” said Mr. E.