Throughout high school, students may jump from activity to activity to find the best fit for themselves. These changes typically occur during the first two years of high school, but for Drew Krajicek, this change was made his senior year: switching from wrestling to basketball.
“It was a mix of a lot of things but mostly the injuries I had in wrestling,” Krajicek said. “They would’ve set me too far back to wrestling my senior year with how much mat time other people had at my weight. There were some other contributing factors, but I’d say that was the main one.”
Although Drew has been part of the wrestling team since his freshman year, he could only wrestle for one year due to the amount of injuries he obtained.
“I wrestled for three years, but I really only wrestled one full season, which was my freshman year because my sophomore year I got injured for the whole season and the same thing with my junior year,” Krajicek said.
Due to the shortened seasons, he started to consider playing basketball, which he had not played since junior high. He was soon convinced once he talked to some of his friends on the basketball team.
“The other seniors on the basketball team really encouraged me to go out for basketball because they all said it was really fun the three years they had done it,” Krajicek said.
One particular senior, AJ Arensberg, had a big impact on Drew’s decision.
“So originally Drew came up to me with his concern with his wrestling career and how he was interested in going out for basketball,” Arensberg said. “As a basketball player, I told him he should really go out. I kind of pushed him and was like, ‘Drew, we could really use a guy like you.’ He listened, talked to his dad and ended up coming out.”
Drew’s dad and boys head wrestling coach Dan Krajicek stressed how important it was that Drew understood he had less experience compared to the other players on the team.
“I just wanted to make sure he understood that basketball was something that he hadn’t played in so long, so I was just making sure he understood that he wouldn’t be good at it right away,” Dan Krajicek said.
Despite the concerns, Coach Krajicek believes that if Drew works hard enough, he could eventually play a significant role on this year’s basketball team.
“I’m hoping he’ll work hard since he hasn’t played in so long. He’s going to have to help defensively, help with rebounds and help out at practice,” Dan Krajicek said. “Just because he’ll probably not be playing a lot doesn’t mean he won’t be important. He’ll just have to find the right ways to help the team.”
While Dan Krajicek emphasized how Drew’s hard work can lead to improvement, Drew mentioned some personal skills that he hopes will grow the team.
“I’m just looking forward to improving my own skills like shooting and defense but also making [the team] better as a result and doing my best to compete with the rest of the guys on the team,” Krajicek said.
Though Drew has skills to improve on, the players believe he will be a great addition to the team.
“We like to call Drew the glue guy,” Arensberg said. “As a teammate and someone who’s going to keep the camaraderie up, he’ll do a great job at that. We’re excited to have him this year.”
