Hill 'Warriors' bring passion, intensity to basketball

  • Published
  • By Catherine McNally
  • Hilltop Times staff
HILL AIR FORCE BASE, Utah --  It's been two years since the Hill "Warriors" basketball team was created in 2009, but despite still being a relative newcomer, the team boasts many years of experience, not to mention heart and determination.

"We started with nothing," said Airman 1st Class George Covington, a member of the 75th Force Support Squadron and forward for the team. "We had no team, no coach and no uniforms," he continued.

Luckily, Covington had a connection with Tech Sgt. Ronald Miller, of the 388th Operations Support Squadron, and Senior Airman Dwayne Wright, of the 75th Security Forces Squadron. Together with Bobby Brown, who acts as civilian captain, the three created the Warriors and brought together basketball players from all over the base.

The group's love for the game helped pave the way for what is now: a passionate, successful varsity team, complete with matching uniforms.

"This team has a lot of passion," Wright said. This passion, combined with skill, has led them to a successful season so far, and they don't plan to back down any time soon.

Their motivation and determination can be felt at their games and even at practice. Miller, who acts as the team's coach, requires his players to bring this same attitude to the court no matter what. And his players bring it willingly.

"(You have to have) determination and a lot of dedication because if something goes wrong, you can't just stop. You've got to fight through," Wright, who plays point guard, said.

"(Miller's) intensity level kind of wears off on us," Covington added. "When we practice we go hard."

Between them, Covington and Wright have 41 years of experience playing basketball, but that experience doesn't dull the edge of the game. Covington and Wright both agree that this intensity -- along with the camaraderie of the team -- is what keeps them coming back for more.

"The feeling of not knowing who you're going to play and then using your skills to overcome that challenge," Covington said as he explained why the game can be so intense.

"It's not nervousness, but you're anxious and you're just ready to go," Wright added.

Still, the team -- currently a combination of active duty and civilians -- faces tough challenges when it loses members to their duties -- including PCS, TDYs and deployments.

"No matter who we lose we still keep playing ball," Covington said.

Despite the challenges that deployments, PCS and TDYs add to the team, Covington and Wright credit the military for instilling its core values into the team members. Values such as "Excellence in all you do" are just as important in basketball as they are in the military.

The Warriors are also small in number when compared to other basketball teams, but Covington and Wright agreed that being the underdog adds to the intensity of the game.

"Every game we go to we feel underestimated," Wright said. In a previous game played in Colorado, the Warriors took to the court with only eight players, while the opposing team had 15 and would switch a player out about every minute.

"They ended up more tired than us," Wright laughed.

Covington and Wright noted that the team has seen a lot of improvement and learned a lot since their inception in 2009. After playing local colleges in 2009 and again in 2010, the Warriors were proud of how far they had come.

As for the future, each team member has their own goal for what they want to achieve.

Looking ahead

Covington hopes to one day play professional basketball with a team from another country. The challenge of being placed outside of his comfort zone and having to learn a new language, how to play with new team members as well as adjusting to a different culture would be a challenge he'd like to meet.

As for Wright, he hopes to one day become a high school basketball coach at his hometown high school in Cairo, Ga. He hopes to mentor the kids there and inspire in them the same passion he has for the game.

Other members of the Warriors hope to one day be a part of the all-Air Force team.

"Always make your dreams your goals," Covington advised. "We gotta go get it," he added, citing the team's motto of "Go get it."