In the upcoming winter sports season, Starr’s Mill will add a 9th grade girls basketball team.
This will be the first in Starr’s Mill history.
“We had an assortment of kids who wanted to try out,” Athletic Director Shane Ratliff said. “We wanted to give them an opportunity to play.”
Last year’s varsity team found renewed success under first-year head coach AC Atha. The team finished third in the region with a 10-4 record. They advanced to the state quarterfinals before losing to AAAA state champions Griffin Bears.
“It is great that we have so much interest in the program,” Atha said.
Starr’s Mill will have the only freshmen girls team in the region. Therefore, the majority of their opponents will be junior varsity teams.
“There were a lot of freshmen wanting to try out, and personally I didn’t want 15 girls on the junior varsity team and not be able to play all of them,” Atha said.”I’m a big believer in developing the younger kids’ skills, so it is creating a program.”
Tryouts are October 23-25 with the season beginning in January. Interested freshmen girls can contact Atha or athletics secretary Sarah Harmond.