When walking around the halls of Liberty you may have heard people talking about the Koi or have seen a few people repping the orange, white, and red fish basketball logo. If you have, then you’re in luck. This year a group of students have created a recreational basketball team called The Koi. 

“I remember we were talking about fantasy football and Jonas (McCaffrey) said who wants to do a recreational basketball league and we both just jumped on it,” senior Benjamin Ptasienski said. 

Although it merely just started as a joke, the two realized that this could actually be something. Together Ptasienski and Jonas McCaffrey, teaming up with Zach Kerns quickly began to come up with the details to start the team. Those details included finding a league to participate in, the team members, the team name and the sponsors. 

“We have been trying to decide on a team name for a very long time,” Kerns said. “Potential team names were the Deli and the Dragonslayers. Jonas and myself were sitting in our T.A. closet and we had a random fish species generator and we kept clicking, kept clicking and then the koi came up and we just looked at each other and we knew it was the one.”  

Once the team name was found, the other pieces started to fall into place. The three managed to find nine other boys for the team, two sponsors, and a league that would allow them to play. The league they chose is the competitive high school basketball league at the Jewish Community Center in Chesterfield. 

Since the team members are very busy doing other things around school, there is no set practice. However, when the team is able to be all together and practice at their home court in the Wyndgate neighborhood, they run lay up lines and other drills to increase hand-eye coordination. So far the team has had seven to eight full team practices. 

“Hard work is our biggest value. We have a couple grinders, a couple hustlers,” Kerns said. 

On the official team roster, there are 11 seniors and one junior. The seniors include: Jonas (The Itch) McCaffrey, Zach (Marmaduke) Kerns, Benjamin (Craig Jetski) Ptasienski, Nick (Choppa) Mcguire, Charles (White Coco) Schraudenbach, Jack (Big Tuna) Elking, Dylan (Dchan) Chandler, John (Heat Check) Reynolds, Meyer (Big Rig) Fensterman, Noah (Bread) Braile, and Joey (Joe Mama) Mesnier. The lone junior is Sam (Ghost in the Post) Ardrey. 

Even though it is still the pre season, the team has big plans for the future. When asked what we can expect from the team, McCaffrey, Ptasienski, and Kerns agreed that we should see “a championship trophy, some wins, an undefeated season (8-0), Sam Ardrey to put up 40 a game and if (school) administration let’s us the trophy will be in the trophy case.” 

The Koi’s first game will be during the first week of January at the Jewish Community Center. Additionally, the team is considering having a special appearance at the 3-on-3 DECA charity basketball game on Dec. 8, however, this idea is still in the works. 

Make sure to follow the team’s instagram @koibasketball for more updates. 

“With a combination of a few tanks in the paint and some mid range choppas along with some snipers behind the arc, I don’t see how the Koi wouldn’t be undefeated this season,” McCaffrey said.