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Belleville High School recently celebrated its athletes with its Winter Postseason Awards night, which was held virtually. In a year that has been tough and wrought with waiting for communication and orders about athletics, Mike Singletary’s words as a former professional American football player and coach now resonate deeply when he asked: “Do you know what my favorite part of the game is? The opportunity to play.” We are now a year out from when our Wisconsin schools closed and sports ceased for our high school athletes last spring, so it is no small victory to be writing an article about a winter season for High School Basketball and Wrestling now!

Belleville High School Boys Basketball is proud to announce its All-Conference players: Trevor Syse (1st Team); Carson Syse (2nd Team); and Andrew Ace (Honorable Mention.) Trevor Syse had an incredible season and was also named “MVP” for his varsity team. What a great honor to see three teammates go “All-Conference” in a difficult season such as one that was played during a pandemic! Gavin Boyum received the “MIP” (Most Improved Player) award, and Carson Syse was selected to receive the “Coach’s Award” that paired well with his “All-Conference” title. It is an incredible demonstration of courage and focus to have played so well in a year that has been fraught with setbacks, schedule changes and away games.

Belleville’s Girls Basketball team celebrated teammates All-Conference status as well, with Callie Smith (2nd Team) and Ava Foley (Honorable Mention.) Their coach, Tony Pharo, also chose both Kenna Edge and Alyssa Caskey as his “MIP” players and awarded Cecilia “Ceci” Grefsheim with the “Coach’s Award.” The Coach’s Award goes to a senior that has shown great leadership with the girls basketball program, on and off the court.

Coach Pharo says this of Ceci, “She was one of the girls that I could always rely on to get information out to the team, and she was one of the girls that I felt other players could go to when they had any questions, concerns, or problems. I also appreciated her leadership throughout the season.”

Coach Pharo stressed the importance of leadership this year and acknowledged that in addition to those players who won awards this year, the girls basketball team’s success this season was also deeply dependent upon their Team Captains, Ava Foley, Callie Smith, Mackenzie Stampfl, and Cecilia Grefsheim. He is grateful to these four players for all they did to help their team have a solid season!

It was also a night to honor boys from both Belleville and New Glarus as the Sugar River Raiders Wrestling team received honors for its players. All-Conference honors went to Mason Mau (1st Team-Belleville), Joe Quaglia (1st Team-New Glarus) and Alex Zielinski (2nd Team-New Glarus). Joe Quaglia received the additional honor of being named “MVP” for his team for the third time during his high school career and as he ends his last wrestling season for the Sugar River Raiders, an honor for which he should be proud of after achieving 5th at State this season! Jacob Walker was selected to receive the “MIP” award and Mason Mau came away with the “GRIT Award” for the hardest working player on the team, a nice close to the season after his run at the state competition as a freshman. Coach Swenson is proud of his team this year and looks forward to the future of his returning wrestlers after this year’s success. The team certainly worked hard and did not let new regulations surrounding COVID-19 defeat their team spirit.

While Singletary was right when he first acknowledged that getting to play is at the heart of any athlete’s passion for sports, in a year where shutdowns, re-scheduling and quarantines defined the high school sports season, these athletes appreciated their chance to play their sport (perhaps more than ever) and made the most of their shortened seasons. As a result, their focus, determination, and desire to play their best shined through and was celebrated this March as the Winter Postseason Awards ceremony was held, because just being able to compete was the true victory!