Let’s Play Bass Get Ball

Chris Kim

Height: 6’0”

Eye color: Brown

Hair color: Dark Brown

Birthday: 03/03/2002

Ben Zenker

Height: 6’1”

Eye color: Brown

Hair color: Brown

Birthday: 04/15/2002

1. When did you start playing basketball?

BZ: I think I started playing in eighth grade. I was on my middle school team [in] seventh grade, but I was absolute garbage. I was so bad. Then in eighth grade, I actually started playing, and I got a little better.

CK: For me, I started playing in sixth grade, but I played for the school team starting in seventh grade.

2. What are your team goals for this season?

BZ: For the most part, we just want to end off on a good note. We have a lot of seniors on the team, and it would be great for all of us if we can win a few games and have lots of fun. I think it’s one of the things we’ve been missing. We want to have games [that are] really intense. [That way], we have a lot of fun. I also want to win a few.

CK: Simply put, [let’s] try to get as many wins as we can. But at the same time, we don’t want to graduate knowing that [the team] won’t be prepared for next year. I want to make sure the juniors, sophomores, and freshmen are prepared for next year and give it all they got.

3. Are there any skills you want to improve on?

BZ: I think I can improve in both my shooting and my passing. I can definitely be a better passer and see the court better. I also need to shoot better. I’ve been missing a lot of open shots. I want to make all of those.

CK: Yeah, shooting too. I feel like ever since I was [little], I was very hesitant in shooting and only confident in shots I know that I can make, which are lay-ups; I know if I get better at shooting, I can help the team.

4. Are there any challenges the team faced this year?

We had a [EXPLETIVE] ton. We had half our team for the first three games of the season. We were all out of rhythm. Samson, Mitch, Chris, [and] Christian were all missing for those games, That totally ruined our rhythm. After that, we’ve been trying to find the right one.

CK: Those early absences ruined an early head-start. There’s no set core [of players] yet, so we’re not 100 percent sure what each other’s skills are. That [put us] at a disadvantage against teams that were more prepared for these games.

5. What is your respective position and what does that entail?

BZ: I’ve been playing power forward (*both laugh*). Chris can go first.

CK: I spend a lot of time on the bench, but I put that on myself. I basically force myself on the court when I’m healthy. Our role as captains is more about setting the mentality for the team. Even if we don’t play well, we want to go out there every game knowing we can win and [have] that confidence.

BZ: I think I got it. Some of the things I bring to the court are high intensity and [a big] athletic body that can get rebounds and finish in the paint. Once in a while, I can hit shots on the outside and also [be] aggressive.

6. How do you deal with schoolwork and basketball? Any tips?

BZ: This might be really stupid, but what I do might not work for everybody. I set my alarm to very early in the morning, and I wake up then because I know that if I come back home from basketball and I’m tired, I’m not going to be able to get work done the right way, and I’m not going to be efficient. That’s why I work early in the morning. Not sure if I would recommend it to someone else, but it’s definitely something to try.

CK: I do exactly the same thing. I try to get most of my work done in school but if that’s not possible, I wake up at like 3:00 a.m. or 4:00 a.m. and within that time, I complete my work. I only do that when I know I don’t have a test the next day. Knowing that I have limited time, I can do that work in two hours because I know that the time is valuable, and I know that I have to go to school.

BZ: That’s a fact. Knowing that there’s is a time limit. That’s the only thing that keeps me going.

7. Favorite or funniest memory?

BZ: I got two so far. One day after practice, Mitch started singing “High School Musical” songs, and Christian was able to guess what movie they were from 100% accurately. He knew exactly which movie it was from and I was like “Oh my god.” The second was at Hunter. The crowd was cheering and everything, and Max [was] getting (Chris laughs) antagonized by the crowd; so what he did was he turned to them, and he lit up his shoes, and the crowd went wild, and I was on the court at that point. I was cracking up. I could not focus at all.

CK: I just find it funny when our team makes mistakes. I always laugh when Yae June gets on the court and coach calls plays and he looks so clueless. I remember one time during the Hunter game, Mitch shot the ball, and it hit the ceiling...and [also] when Yi Fin got crossed over and he fell to the floor. I wasn’t laughing but on the inside, I was like “Damn.” These are bad things but they remind us that we’re not robots and we still make mistakes.

8. Proudest memory so far?

I think one of our best moments was still my freshman year when we beat MLK. MLK was, I think, at that point the best team in the division and we were like 0-9. My baseball coach was at the game for half a second and he said you made some great passes. It was a crazy moment because it was our first win and one of their first losses. No one expected us to beat them but we just played hard. And we beat them. That was great.

CK: It’s mostly the moments when people underestimate us when they see our record but when we come and play they don’t know that we haven’t won a game. Rather than being proud of myself, I feel like I’m more proud of the entire team. You can see it in how they come to practice. They have the losses in the back of their mind but they come to practice with their head held high and don’t take anything for granted.

Drink of Choice:

>CK - Water

>BZ - Sprite

Favorite food:

>CK - Fish

>BZ - Tacos

Motto to live by:

>CK - It’s better to know what you can improve than to brag about being perfect.

>BZ - To perform in front of thousands, you gotta outwork thousands in front of no one.

Fun fact:

>CK - I have a pet turtle.

>BZ - My two brothers and I are lefties.