Senior varsity basketball player Vivian Lawless reflects on her past seasons.
BY BY FIA GALLICCHIO ’22. PHOTOs BY BELLA VANMETER, ’22 and Jack Tatham, ’22.
When senior Viv Lawless played in a basketball game against Dublin Coffman her freshman year, she did not expect to receive an injury that would prevent her from playing for two years. Lawless was hit in the back by a basketball and suffered a stress fracture that impacted her throughout the entirety of her freshman and sophomore years. During those two years, Lawless spent time recovering so she could eventually play again.
“I had to do a lot of therapy and a lot of PT until I could get back to running and playing sports again,” Lawless said.
Because of this, she struggled to get back to where she was before the injury.
“It was very difficult,” Lawless said. “[I had to] like really just trust my body and know that I was going to be OK no matter what I did. Then going into junior year, I had to adjust to playing again and playing at a high level.”
Her junior year also came with the added difficulty of quarantining due to COVID-19.
“Junior year we were also quarantined three separate times in our season, so it was like not doing anything for two weeks, and then expecting to go back and play a full 32 minutes in a game,” Lawless said.
Additionally, the girls basketball team has gone through three different coaches since Lawless’ freshman year.
“Every year a new coach comes in and implements their own defense and offense and kinda has their own expectations for the team,” Lawless said.
“It’s definitely interesting and difficult those first couple weeks to adjust to them and to know what they want along with everything that they expect from you.”
Even though she was not able to play for so long, Lawless was still a part of the team. She became a captain her junior year and won her team’s spirit award. The team showed unyielding support for Lawless throughout her injury.
“Honestly, I think the team was the most important, like was the biggest reason I tried so hard to get back. They were always there for me; they would always support me, and like still I went to everything even though I was injured and wasn’t playing, and they just always made me feel like I was part of the team,” Lawless said.
Despite everything, Lawless is optimistic for the future of her team.
“Our first game was Nov. 20, and so we won, which is good. We started out 1-0, which is better than last year,” Lawless said. “Last year we had a losing record, so we’re hoping to do better this year, but we have a new coach and everything, so we’re hoping that that will kind of start it, but last year we did not go very far.”
Lawless does not plan to play basketball in college, but does plan to play lacrosse. This year will be her last year not only on the team but playing the sport.
