Winter sports competition begins today across the state. The Broken Bow girls and boys basketball teams will tip off their seasons tonight at home when they host Kearney Catholic. Keaton Klimek enters his second season as the head coach of Broken Bow boys basketball. Visiting with KCNI/KBBN sports during the “Winter Sports Tip Off” event, Klimek talked about the leadership style and work ethic of this year’s team.
“I think it’s kind of a combination. I’m pretty vocal in practice and in games. But some of the guys have stepped up and been able to vocally lead when I don’t have a voice left. We also just play a style that we play super hard. We’re gonna dive on the ball every chance we get. So anytime somebody dives, that just brings energy to our team. Everybody’s going over to help them up, talking to them. So the leadership style is a little bit lead by example from these guys. And they’ve started to come out of their shell and a couple of them lead vocally.”
Kelly Cooksley enters his ninth season as head coach of the Broken Bow girls basketball program. Cooksley said that finding “rhythm” will be one of the keys to success for this year’s team.
“If we can just find some rhythm, you know, we’re obviously replacing our point guard from last year. Gaby was a tremendous leader for us, and she helped kind of cover up a lot of things, so we need to kind of get some good guard play from our point. And then I feel like we can get in a rhythm, especially defensively, trying some different things. So if we can get in a rhythm, I think we’ll meet our potential.”
Tonight’s games between Broken Bow and Kearney Catholic will be broadcast on KBBN 95.3 FM and kbbn.com. The girls varsity game is scheduled to tip off at 6 p.m. with the boys game to follow.
The Broken Bow girls and boys wrestling teams will travel to Grand Island today for a dual with Northwest. Ed Schaaf enters year number eighteen as boys head wrestling coach. Schaaf talked about the makeup of this year’s team.
“Depths good. You know we got a lot of kids right in those middle weights and they’re tough. Get up to the upper weights, maybe not as much depth, but yet, for the most part, we’re pretty close to two deep throughout the lineup. So yeah, we’ve got a lot of kids, and as I said, it’s very competitive. You can go in our room and, you know what, if you’re not getting pushed, that’s because you’re not finding the competition. You know, we’ve got state medalists and state qualifiers all up and down throughout. So a pretty competitive room.”
This is year number two for the Broken Bow girls wrestling program. Head coach Marissa Campbell reflected on the inaugural year of the program.
“Well, like you said, it made me feel very accomplished. A lot of the girls were able to achieve their goals that they had set in the beginning of the year. And in the beginning of the year, when some of those things seemed so impossible and so far away, it was nice to see those girls accomplish those things and have those goals met.”
Other area sports scheduled for today include:
Basketball
Anselmo-Merna vs Paxton at NPCC (G/B)
SEM at Loomis (G/B)
Mullen at Sutherland (G/B)
Burwell at Fullerton (G/B)
Wrestling
Ansley/Litchfield at Pleasanton Quad (G/B)
SEM at Hi-Line Dual (boys)
