Oakmont freshman Ethan Mikitiuk spent the duration of this past year’s basketball season playing on not only Oakmont’s JV basketball team, but eventually was given the opportunity to move up to play on varsity. 

Basketball has always been an important part of Mikitiuk’s life. Therefore, when given the chance to be able to play on varsity, he took it. 

As demanding as being part of varsity can be, Mikitiuk preferred playing on varsity rather than JV because of the benefits that came with it. 

“Now that I think about it, I liked playing in varsity games more,” Mikitiuk said. “The home crowd in the varsity games made it much better, but I enjoyed both.” 

Since being given the opportunity to play on both teams, Mikitiuk feels that he had a better overall experience before his move to varsity. 

“Altogether, I had a better experience on the JV team because I was able to make more memories,” Mikitiuk said. 

Besides the personal aspect of the game, basketball also revolves around learning to play cooperatively and skillfully with teammates. 

“Ethan was always practicing basketball,” Aldin Bubic, [include grade level], said. “He always had the mentality to get better, and has improved since the beginning of the season. He’s a good person on and off the court.” 

Mikitiuk was given a good opportunity, and he absolutely made the most of it.