Eleven friends rotate on and off the court, encouraging each other and learning to play as a basketball team. While it may not always look like it on the court by all of the calling back and forth, some of these boys have been friends since before kindergarten. 

This winter season, 11 Linganore juniors and seniors organized and raised funds to create their own rec team. Going by the name of the New Market Stallions, the boys practice one day a week and have a game every Saturday, starting December 7 and continuing until February 2. 

Creating a team isn’t free. In order to start the team, the boys hosted a car wash fundraiser in October at the New Market Food Lion where they washed cars for donations. 

The car wash was a huge success, and they were able to raise over $700. The money went towards their admission into a recreation league called Basketball Coaches Without Boundaries, BCWB for short. They had enough money to purchase personalized pinnies for each player. 

New Market local restaurant, the Derby, heard these boys’ story and decided that they were interested in sponsoring the team. The Stallions also got a second sponsor,  Free-zone Fitness.

About the Stallions

Junior Riley Glynn talked the guys into forming the team. He is also a member of the varsity football team as well as part of the sew therapy club. 

“Basketball is a form of art. It could even be considered a language. I had a group of guys who had little to no basketball knowledge and I brought them together to make a team with almost no basketball experience. We did not make this team to win. We made this team to have fun,” said Glynn. 

He got the idea from his friend AJ Buratowski, who is also a member of the team but didn’t know how to organize it or if others would be interested. Buratowski, who has a heavy course-load this year, was happy to have Glynn take the lead.

Riley and AJ both foresee good outcomes for the team. The boys have just played their first game at TJ Middle School against Walkersville Rice. They lost, but they focused on having fun.

Lives Off the Court 

All of these boys are not only dedicated to their team but they are also dedicated to their school. Many of them also participate in clubs and extracurricular/high school sports during other seasons. 

The coach of the team is junior Scott Hummel who played on the JV basketball  team his freshman year. Outside of the coaching life, Scott is also a football and wrestling team member, and he is in the sew therapy club. 

“I hope for the team to have a lot of fun. I think as time progresses that our team as a whole can improve and we can do good.” Hummel wants to avoid possible injury that could affect wrestling, so he coaches. 

Junior Adam Liston has never played basketball before; however, he had just finished his fall soccer season for the school team and is competing in winter track sprinting and field events. 

“Being on the team is really fun, since it’s with all of my friends. It’s more enjoyable than school teams for me because we don’t have a ton of set games and practices,” said Liston.

These boys may not always see each other at school, but on the court they are a cohesive group who have a passion to play the game. They welcome fans and spectators at TJ Middle every Saturday night.