Tiger feels at home on court

March 9, 2018

For The Tribune

Since Kaitlyn Silvers had played both volleyball and basketball in eighth grade at Crothersville, she looked forward to playing both sports in high school.

For Silvers, the greatest reward from athletics was representing her community with her classmates.

“The fun part about playing for the Tigers is that you know you’re representing your school, and you know your teammates are there to help you when you need it,” Silvers said. “You’re not just by yourself.”

The senior enjoyed her basketball teammates and playing defense.

“What I enjoyed most is that we were there for each other,” she said. “We knew how to pass the ball. None of us were really ball hogs. We knew who could score and who needed help scoring.

“My favorite part was probably defense. We had to play a lot of zone because we only had eight girls and we knew we were going to get wore out if we kept playing man.”

Silvers played wherever she was needed on the floor.

“If Tayler (Brewer) and Bekah (Cook) were in then I would be at a guard position, but if one of those two were out I would be at a forward position,” Silvers said. “I really don’t have a specification. Pretty much wherever they needed me I would do that job.”

Silvers was the only senior on the basketball team this winter.

“I have been with these juniors for a very long time, so they are my family,” Silvers said. “Every sport that I play they are my family.”

In volleyball last fall, Silvers enjoyed playing in the front row and serving.

“At first I was all-around and then a couple girls sprang up a little bit and then I was front (row) and server,” Silvers said. “I played right side. You have to have a perfect angle to get it where you want it to go, otherwise it will hit the blockers’ hands.

“Sometimes you had to do a little roll shot to the middle. Communication means everything. If you don’t communicate you’re just going to bump into each-other, and somebody is going to end up getting hurt.”

Silvers said she enjoyed being captain of the volleyball team.

“It showed me that I needed to be a leader and that I needed to help the girls who couldn’t serve,” she said. “Early in the volleyball season, we had a junior varsity team, and there were a couple girls who were having some troubles and I would take them out of a drill and take them somewhere and help them with their serve.

“There was one game where a girl finally got her serve over and that was one of the happiest times I felt because I knew that was something I got to help her with.”

She said she preferred the home matches in volleyball and the home games in basketball.

“I enjoyed the home court best because that’s what you’re most familiar with,” Silvers said. “My favorite away gym would either be West Washington or Orleans.”

Silvers said she had mixed emotions about senior night in both sports.

“It was rough because I knew that that would be the last moment that I would ever play in this gym,” Silvers said. “It was also very exciting because I knew that those girls looked up to me and now they’re going to express it, and show me their thanks for everything that I was coping with.

“It was a lot of hard work. It was time-consuming, but it gave me something to do and I was something I thoroughly enjoyed, so I decided I was going to stick with it and I was going to play it all out.”

Silvers said she has enjoyed attending Crothersville.

“I like being able to know everyone and it’s easy to communicate with people,” Silvers said.

[sc:pullout-title pullout-title=”Silvers file” ][sc:pullout-text-begin]

Name: Kaitlyn Silvers

School: Crothersville High School

Parents: Nita Sage, late Shawn Silvers

Sports: volleyball 4 years, basketball 4 years

Athletic highlight: basketball-2017 sectional title

Organizations: National Honors Society, student council, Sunshine Society, S.A.D.D., history club, science club, academic team

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