by Ryan Vanderwarker
"We really did have it good. Now that we are much older and have time to reflect on our high school years, we really can see that even though Trinity Baptist School was small and insignificant in the grander scheme of Vermont sports we had the opportunity to make good memories. I was in the junior high when Jamie Fuller was a senior. I remember sitting at the end of the bench with Josh Stertzbach and Tim Frizzell watching him, Jack Frizzell, Stephan, Matt, Jeff, and others play ball. I was there when Jamie made his 1,000th point in the nastiest gym in America; I was there when Josh Fleming yelled at his mom at Stowe when Josh fouled out; I was there when we beat Cabot in their own tournament...and never were invited back; I was there when Coach Hart told Matt he could coach if he wanted; I was there when we had to stay in the library at Danville for a tournament and Dave Duhaime kept us all up cause he was so stinkin funny; I remember playing Claremont and being tied with 2 seconds left and Scott Guiel inbounding the ball to me and scoring when the buzzer when off. Coach Graff grabbed my jersey and said, "Graduate already!"; I remember all the fun times in the bus, the vans (Tim Frizzell trying to pee in a Snapple bottle with Mr. Delorge pumping the breaks), and the Memorial Auditorium locker room (you have to admit, playin home games at the gym was awesome). The point is... I was there...I got to experience those memories. I am very thankful that God allowed my family to be part of the Trinity family. Not perfect, by any stretch of the imagination, but we all had a GREAT time playing ball at TBS. Some final thoughts: I loved playing with you guys. Jeff, I am envious of you because you got to play with your bro during your high school years. I would have loved to have been able to play with Matt and Luke when we were all in our "prime". That would have been sweet. My worst two memories of my experience: #1 - Losing to Warwick, R.I. my senior year in the quarterfinals. We were up by 20 all game and we fell apart at the end. Come to find out at the end of the game, the guy that scored their last 6 points had actually fouled out of the game at the beginning of the 4th quarter and the scorekeeper never told the referees. #2 - Because we lost we went to Hartford Christian Academy to play in their season ending tournament. I hated losing to Hartford (Adam Kraiwec, Jason Vega, etc...). We got second my junior year and second my senior year because I was an idiot. In all my years of ball i have one technical foul- I called a timeout with none left. We lost by 2 points. I had 28 and a bunch of rebounds but that was the last game of my high school career."
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3 comments:
Ryan, thanks SO much. I think it was at Canaan not Danville that we slept in the gymnasium or whatever. I don't remember our class, with Dave D., ever playing Danville. I also believe Jamie would have loved; or at least preferred, playing with me in my 'prime' vs. that of a crazed sophomore ... Thanks again!
I would have loved to play with all you in your primes. Imagine what a team that would have been. But hey, I don't regret a second of it. Jeff, it was great to be able to play on the same team together (not many brothers have that privilege). I think I might still have some of those newspaper clippings of our games where it references us as the "Fuller Brothers". I'm saving them to show my two boys someday. One of Jared's favorite things to wear is his basketball jersey with #22 and Tyler's is his basketball jersey with #12. We didn't buy them because of the numbers but they think it's really cool that we had those same numbers.
I have to agree with Ryan. The Trinity experience, while not perfect, was much better than a lot of schools that size get. Granted, my senior year we only played like 11 or 12 games, and we never played in any tournaments after my 9th grade season, but it was still a great school to represent. As much as we hated practicing in the old shoebox of a gym, we loved running suicides in it.
I'm not sure how many of you remember him, but Joe Bordeau was a pretty good ball player too. He ended up leaving Trinity after the 8th grade, but had he stayed, he would've been great.
Also, most of you guys didn't get to know Mr. Helder. I can honestly say, he knew the game of basketball better than anyone I've known. He took a lot of flack for his constant drilling of fundamentals...matter of fact, everytime I watch Hoosiers I think of Coach Helder because he was the same kind of coach. Had he stayed more than just the 2 years he coached, I believe the team with Dennis, Andy, Tyler, Nathaniel, and myself would have won the NEACS regional tournament. Despite the fact he was an NC State fan, he knew the game and he taught us so much in 2 years...much of what I still use today in coaching my team now.
when is the alumni game this year?
Lucas
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