The De Soto High School girl’s basketball team began its season by having a team bonding lock-in on Nov. 11-12 which coincided with the first day of practice.

The lock-in was organized when head coach Jim Bonar came up with the idea, and the team gave him their full support. After Bonar presented the idea, all that was needed was to plan the activities of the lock-in.

“We wanted to do something really fun to bring in the season,” senior Katie Gehrt said.

The day began with the girls having the option of going to I-Hop. From there, some of the girls that went to I-Hop went to Bonar’s church. Later, the team met up at Gehrt’s house, had pizza and watched a highlight film.

“My favorite moment was watching the highlight film before we left because it got everyone pretty energized for the season, and it is fun to see the success we had last year compared to what our goals are last year,” Gehrt said.

Afterwards, the team went to the school and played various games. Then at midnight, the team started the season by playing their favorite basketball drill. Finally, the team went to bed –sort of.

“A lot of people stayed up pretty late,” Gehrt said. “Parents had to fight to get us to go to sleep.”

The team decided to have a lock-in not only to bring in the season but also to have a team bonding experience.

“Last year we had a lot of team dinners which helped, but since we don’t have two courts this year it’s really hard to connect with the freshman because they don’t have practices with us,” Gehrt said. “This allowed everyone to get to know each other before the season started.”

It seems that the lock-in fulfilled its goal as a majority of the girls were freshman allowing for the seniors to bond with new members.

“It was very effective,” senior Shelby Deghand said. “I wouldn’t know the freshmen names if they didn’t go to that thing.”

Now that the lock-in is over the team has been able to see the benefits of having it.

“We are more united as a team now,” Gehrt said.