Veritas girls are winners

The Veritas girls basketball team is on an unprecedented eight-tournament winning streak. Last Saturday, they claimed number eight at the Ross Corners Christain School Basketball Invitiational Tournament, earning their fourth straight Ross Corners title.

“At first, I didn't even realize we had a 'streak,'" said head coach Greg Gaffney. “...We focus so much on reaching the 'level of excellence,' which to us is not defined as perfection, but as playing better today than yesterday and better tomorrow than today. We actually don't focus on wins, though those occur with great regularity for us. So I suppose this streak is the natural outcome of the pursuit of excellence.”

This season, Veritas opened in Maryland with the Perry Hall Private School Preseason Invitational Tournament playing schools from Virginia and Maryland.

“We had a grueling bracket that had us defeat four opponents for the title...in one day,” Gaffney said. “We truly did not anticipate winning this tournament, as the majority of schools had much larger enrollments that our small school.”

The team has gone on to have seven more tournament successes.

“I think one of the reasons we have been successful is that we focus on the challenge of each game rather that the pressure of winning a tournament,” Gaffney said. “Of course we want to win. But I think sometimes placing the focus on winning and losing rather than on improvement and execution causes players to play tighter and therefore more prone to performing below their ability.”

“While the winning streak instilled a sense of accomplishment within our team, it was not the wins that truly gave meaning to it,” said senior forward Amy Van Grouw. “It was because we had a goal and were able to work together as a whole team and play to the glory of God. Throughout both practices and games we focused on working hard together and it was receiving the payoff for that that truly made it special.”

“To me this winning streak doesn’t mean that we have the most skill, it means we have hard work, dedication, and passion in each and every one of our coaches and teammates,” said junior guard Kayla Amels.

This year Veritas still has a Christmas Tournament at Valley Forge University, the MCAA post-season tournament, the opportunity to win its third consecutive Mideast Regional title and for the first time, the team will travel to Mount Vernon, Ohio, for the National Christian School Athletic Association Tournament, where it will see teams from all over the United States.