Why We Play

On the sports page this week we ran a portrait feature on the Ilwaco High School boys basketball team. The boys have had it rough this year, winless and being blown out by teams with fat less sportsmanship than these boys deserve. A lot if kids probably wouldn't have stuck with it trough that, but these guys did. So we simply asked, why do you play? Why do you keep coming back everyday?

Taylor Schisler, junior

“Losing defintely sucks. 

“It doesn’t make it fun to come back everyday and practice really hard and not be able to win. 

“My dad told me he regretted not playing basketball his senior year. They didn’t have a super good team that year either, but he said being able to go on the bus with your friends, spending time with them — you’re not in high school very long.

“I’ve defintely thought about not going to practice some days, but you think about it and you want to be there for the coach — because he’s there for us. you make a committment, you gotta follow through with it.”

 Eric McMillan, senior
“Even though we may not win a game this year, I feel we have gotten a lot better throughout the season. Some scores may not show that, but I feel we have gotten a lot better.
“I’m not coming back (next year) but it’s still kind of (my) responsibilty to get these guys ready for next year. When I was a freshman, the seniors, they always would help us out, try to make us better.”

 Keinyn Adams, junior
“I just like to come out here and play with my best friends. I just love the game.
“I thank God everyday that I can come out here and play.
       “Even if it’s hard, we’ll try to rebuild and get better next year. I guess this will make us want to win more?
“I mean, none of us like to lose, It’s just not fun.”

 Carlos Lopez, senior
“Overall, this season’s been rough. But at the end of the day you have to realize that you have a hard-working team.
“I have great teammates, great guys, and that’s all that matters. We always keep each others heads up, stuff like that.
“What kept me coming back? For the love of the game. You do it for you, becasue you love it so much. You come back, to try to get better, no matter what.”

Kenneth Sheldon, junior
“It’s been pretty tough. It’s not very fun. Hopefully it can get better next year. We’re just trying to hang through it.
“Next year, we’ll know what it’s like to be on the bottom — we don’t want to be that team anymore. I mean, I have a lot of fun playing basketball, I like it a lot.”

The images were made using a 45-year-old Polaroid camera that employs a type of pull-apart film. One side of the film is a print, on the other side a paper negative. The negatives on this film has far greater tonal range, and when separated from the print has a naturally occurring border that looks pretty cool.
I scanned the negatives into my computer and them inverted the image to make a positive, and that's it. It's a cool result that I really like.

-DKM