Kaia Stewart may seem like a regular 8th grader here at Conway Jr. High, but a lot of her classmates don’t know that she is a very busy teenager. Aside from her regular classes and her new babysitting job, she actually is on the 8th grade girls basketball team. 

This is not her first time playing basketball though, Stewart has always liked basketball ever since she was little. She started on her first competitive basketball team last year in 7th grade. She played on the team at Carl Stuart Middle School, and now she is on the white team here at the Jr.high. “My favorite memory of 7th grade basketball is spending time with my friends and having fun,” she said. 

Basketball certainly runs in the family. Her mom and dad also played on a basketball team when they were in school, both her sisters play, and her older brother plays  on the SAU team in Camden. 

Every morning she wakes up at 5:30 and goes to school earlier than everyone else for basketball practice at 6 AM. “My least favorite thing about basketball is waking up for practice,” she said. She says her favorite drill to do is the shell drill, when 5 people stand at the 3 point line and 3 other people stand as defense and they pass the people on the 3 point line to practice passing when people are guarding them.

Stewart is excited for the season to start and see what’s in store for 8th grade white basketball.