The final bell rings, players on the court come to a halt as the sound of shoes squeaking against the floor is overpowered by the cheering of the crowd. The team rallies together with hope in their eyes, looking forward to the upcoming season.
The 2025-2026 Bowie Boys Basketball season kicked off with a decisive victory over the Stony Point Tigers 76-55. This season shows true potential to varsity basketball head coach and student leadership teacher Joseph Pendell. The team has started the season off with a streak of six wins and look to continue their successes throughout their season, going 14-1 and winning their own tournament.
“There have been a lot of good Bowie teams in the past and we hope to be joining them,” Pendell said. “All of our guys have put in a lot of time and dedication in the off season. If we can apply pressure for all 32 minutes and play team basketball, I feel like we have a great chance of winning every time we take the court.”
The team practices during the school day and as they get closer to the start of season there are additional hours after school and on the weekends. Sometimes they work on traditional drills, but also take time to lift and then let their bodies recover. This workload can be strenuous, so many athletes have to find ways to take care of their bodies leading up to games.
“Everyone does their own thing to make sure their body’s right and ready to play,” junior point guard Joshua Baskin said. “I went to the trainer the morning before the first game and then as a team we watch film with our assistant coach individually, and then watch film all together with both coaches during the period.”
The staff and team as a whole has decided to shift towards a more uptempo playing style this year, encouraging the players to be more creative and make higher-scoring decisions. The team plans to be more aggressive during games defensive wise to create pressure and really push the other team.
“The players have worked hard and prepared themselves well,” assistant coach Bret Atkins said. “The players have improved individually and have a better understanding of what we are trying to do as a team in the game.”
Senior captain, center Lamin Jabbi has gone from barely playing in the games to barely ever coming out of a game. As captain Jabbi spends countless hours with his teammates, and is expected to keep them in check, lead them during games, and keep them united on and off the court.
“As a team we get warmed up and we know what we’re there to do and that’s to win the game,” Jabbi said. “Working with this team, the trust just has to be there and as captain if someone’s having a bad day, I’ll help them out. It’s really taught me that I’m going to meet a lot of people in my life and it’s good to learn to get along with them.”
The shift in training and in-game tactics, paired with new leadership has created a stronger community between the team this year according to Baskin. This year the coaches have relied on student leaders like Jabbi and Baskin to help the team during games and tournaments.
“Our coach talked about how in practice, that’s his time to be a coach, but in game it’s up to us,” Baskin said. “It definitely made my leadership role bigger just because it’s more of a player-led game, pushing me to make sure that if we’re in a bad position then everyone knows we’re okay. I really think we’re going to have a good season. We have the right players, the right team chemistry, and we could make a big run this year.”
