Posted Date: 02/01/2024

 Rebels Basketball:

Shooting around with Ethan Olson

By Lane Owen

If you've ever met me, or any of my friends, you would know that most of us are into sports, even if that's just watching or playing at the high school level. It's just what we enjoy, the feeling of winning has always been unmatched in all of our minds. But I don't play highschool basketball. So I asked the ones who do, what makes them tick, and have that passion for the sport.  Almost all of my closest friends have always played basketball at every level. Except for Ethan Olson. Ethan has always been one of the nicest in my class and always had an almost sneaky kind of athleticism to him. Lots of people underestimate him.

 “I don't wanna seem like everybody has always counted me out, like I have no haters or anything even close to that, I just do me. It's who I am.” Ethan explained to me. Because of the random appearance of him playing for the first time his junior year of high school, I asked him if his friends really pressured him into it, or if it was a decision he made on his own. 

“You know, I wouldn't ever say my friends forced me to do anything, to be honest, nobody was really pressuring me to join. They knew I either would or wouldn't, and their opinion in no way, would affect my final decision” When most kids are pressured to do a sport by their friends, they tend to hate doing it, because they feel like they're playing for them, not themselves. And that brings anxiousness. Even if they actually enjoy the sport. So it's great for Ethan that he didn't let other opinions affect him in any way. 

 When I've played basketball with Ethan, where it be just some one on one at open gym, or running a 5 on 5 with him, his pace never changes. Some people go too fast for themselves and end up doing more harm to themselves than anything. That being said, when he's not the main ball handler, he’ll go the best speed for them, if he's off-ball and someone is going too fast, he’ll surprise the defonse by really slowing everything down. So, he is always able to control and make the pace whatever works for the main ball handler and everybody else. He's the great middle.  

 Just like most of the basketball players I know, Ethan does have some pregame routines. “It's not anything crazy like throwing baby powder in the air like Lebron or Jordan did; I just listen to music and really just try to calm my nerves down.  I’ll talk to coach Winters or coach Paxton to just go over the game plan one more time, and maybe talk with other guys on the team. I really wouldn't even call it a pregame routine, just because it's a normal routine, everybody does it. Besides Avery. He doesn't listen to music.”