You’ve heard of teenagers playing indoor soccer for fun, or maybe joining the water polo team in the summer just because. What you probably haven’t heard of is teens taking these “fun” leagues incredibly seriously, well now you have. The Mighty Sharks Basketball team is composed mainly of varsity/JV basketball players at Monarch and their friends, which makes them an extreme force to be reckoned with in your run-of-the-mill league. Currently on a twenty-game winning streak, including last year’s championship game, these student athletes are taking their  team to a whole new level.

Coached by CU football player and team brother, Jay Macintyre, and led by junior captain, Nick Hoff, the players put an exceptional amount of time into this ‘fun’ team.

“Jay’s a great guy, he’s really a legend here at Monarch. It’s an honor to have him as a coach. We also have Kabion Ento, he’s a new coach and also plays wide receiver at CU,” junior Marcus Cassar said.

They have multiple uniforms and play in tournaments as well as regular season games, all in their technical “off season” from high school basketball, and while some of them participate in other sports. Squeezing in one or two practices a week can be tough with everyone’s schedules, but they make it work.

“We have a lot of plays that we need to practice. We work on a lot of plays, defense, we run to get in shape, and we work on our celebrations in practice,” junior Roy Grigsby said.

The team also has a lot of fun with it, though on the court it is all business, plus some dancing. Their PR team (themselves) is next to none; with video interviews, stats, and team messages landscaping the twitter feed. Each player was interviewed and the comical videos are released on the team twitter.

“Our celebrations are the best part,” Cassar said. “Pregame we have a huddle and ‘Soy Money’ aka Sawyer Weiler runs around with a shark fin while the rest of us get really hyped, we just break it out.”

Now in their third year of existence, the Sharks are looking for another great year following their championship last year. The team all shares one common goal, “repeat,” as Grigsby put it, and they are off to a good start so far with three wins on their opening weekend and a tournament win. Whether you have seen them in action or not, the player’s commitment to this subsequent team on top of their other responsibilities is commendable, and that commitment is what brings them the success on the court.