When the Glenbrook South varsity basketball team took the court for warmups prior to a game against the Palatine Pirates, the team headed straight towards their customary layup drills.

As they began to form lines, junior guard Nik Lofgren selflessly offered to let senior center Matt Mierzycki take Lofgren’s spot in line so Mierzycki could get more shots in. Mierzycki, who has started every game this season for the Titans, refused to hear anything of the sort from Lofgren, who has mostly been delegated to bench duties and JV games.

“Don’t be stupid, Nik. You’re just as much a part of this team as I am,” said Mierzycki.

Mierzycki’s esteem that he holds for his teammate has proven to be quite uncommon. In the rare instances when humor is found in the athletic world, bench players have found themselves to be the butt of most jokes. This season has especially been tough for the bench players on this year’s basketball squad, as it is no secret that Head Coach Scott Nemecek does not like to go deep into his bench during games. Electing to stick to a seven-man rotation out of a team of fourteen, the other seven have been forced to merely enjoy the best seats in the house. Or so it seems.

The team, bench and starters, gather around coach Nemecek mid-game. The bench players have bright futures next year.

When assessing the team as a whole, Nemecek held the second string players as high as the starters, crediting the success of the starters to the work of the bench. “These guys have been outstanding for us. They haven’t received a ton of playing time, but they’ve been going one hundred percent in every practice. In practices, we run our starters against our bench, and the second team has been pushing the starters to play at a higher level,” said Nemecek.

Despite their importance to the team, the role of a bench player has been tough to swallow for most of the players.

“At first, I was a little disappointed and upset that I wasn’t going to see the floor, but the guys that are playing over me are better,” said Lofgren. “It’s easy to complain in that situation, but the team comes first.”

Lofgren’s sentiments are shared by fellow junior Dean Karros, a fellow resident of the bench. “Obviously everybody wants to play, but everybody has his own role on the team, and we are all fine with it,” said Karros.

Although their playing time has not progressed, the season has, bringing a more distinct understanding of the role of the bench. As mentioned by Nemecek, most of the contributions of the bench are unseen by the fans, taking place during practices after school.

“We make the players who do contribute play at their best. It’s that simple,” said Lofgren. “We learn about 16 different teams and offenses, and we run them better in practices than the actual team does in games.”

Nonstarters have also been given the opportunity to compete against the bench of opposing teams in the form of JV games. Usually taking place on a Saturday morning following a varsity game, these games do not come close to the amount of hype and fan support received by the varsity games. Nevertheless, this does not take away from the level of competition found in these JV games.

“The JV games aren’t as far away from varsity games as you might think. A lot of the players we play against in these games play quite a bit in varsity games,” said Lofgren. “They don’t miss a beat compared to varsity games when it comes to the tempo and caliber.”

With only two starters returning for next year’s season, the junior-dominated bench knows that their days as bench players are numbered, but they refuse to take anything away from the role. Junior forward Steven Solomos’ friends brought signs to a varsity game, jokingly pleading to Nemecek to bring Solomos in. Solomos appreciated the lighthearted gesture but declined to share their teasing view on the role of a bench player, as he expressed his disdain towards anyone that wouldn’t take a bench player seriously.

“I would tell them to try and practice with the basketball squad. Being a bench player isn’t as easy it sounds; there’s more to it than getting drinks or grabbing towels. People don’t see us working and pushing so hard in practices,” said Solomos. “We put so much hard work in that words can’t begin to explain.”

Jay Lee, staff reporter