Last year, the Hermantown boy’s basketball made the state basketball tournament, but fell in the first round by just two points. While some Hawks turned to look for revenge for this season, a good amount suited up for other Hermantown sports.

Being a multisport athlete in high school isn’t too uncommon, but playing at an incredibly high level doesn’t just happen every day.

While the accolades are nice, the mindset of changing between seasons is what benefits the hoops team.

“Success breeds success,” said Hermantown’s Head Coach, Andy Fenske. “We got guys. This is the most multi-sport athletes we’ve had in years. This year it’s been even better. We’ve had guys who have had success, you know, they get to those playoffs. They know what it takes to win.”

“The change from season to season is tough,” added Senior Guard, Peyton Menzel. “Obviously, I love football in a different way than I can’t love basketball. It’s just nice because I have the camaraderie with them the whole season of football. Turning over will be tough, but it’s going to be fun playing basketball.”

No sport carries the same rules or gameplay, but many of them carry the same values for their players.

“We’ve seen those that transition going from being successful in other sports, carrying over here and then likewise when they leave here, carrying that over into their next season as well,” said Fenske. “So these guys know what it takes to get to that next level on the basketball court and they’ve been finding out that they have a lot of success elsewhere, too.”

One of the parts of each season that people don’t see behind the scenes is getting back into the swing of a high tempo basketball season.

“Football, you’re out in the field near a gym and it’s just different atmosphere, different guys,” said Menzel. “It’s a lot tougher on the cardiovascular, you’re running a lot more. So I’ll go get the legs back, hopefully I’Il be able to do that quick.”

The hawks take on Denfeld on December 5th for their regular season opener.