Trojans girls basketball players recognize influential people in Friday’s home game against Portage

Patrick Mochen
Onwardtrojans.com

Chesterton girls basketball will recognize people chosen by the players as their influential person during the game against Portage on Friday night. Several players have chosen current or former teachers, and some have chosen current or former coaches.
Sophomore Paige Clancy chose Mrs. Rachel Blythe, her freshman English teacher. Blythe teaches ninth grade honors English and Advanced Composition, a class for juniors and seniors to refine their writing before college.
“She’s a really good teacher for me and she really cares about her job,” Clancy said. “She helped me with my writing a lot. She’s really nice, caring, and hardworking.”
Blythe partners with Mrs. Becky Uehling as they both work on the curriculum and teach freshman honors English.
“Mrs. Blythe is always a conscientious teacher,” Uehling said. “She always thinks of her students first and provides them with opportunities to grow as readers and writers. She’s super funny, she’s a good mom, and has lots of funny stories.”
Sophomore point guard Lindsi McGuffey chose Liberty middle school athletic director Nick Bamber to be recognized at the game. Bamber coached McGuffey in seventh and eighth grade basketball. McGuffey currently shares point guard duties with junior Novea Brandon. McGuffey’s skillset includes a hot shooting hand and much more, although she says it wasn’t always that way.
“He really helped me further my potential in basketball,” McGuffey said of Bamber, “and helped me realize I can do a lot more than just shoot the ball, because that was my main focus, but he switched my perspective.”
Not only did she mention her skills that they worked on, but also her sports mindset.
“He was really good to all the girls. He helped me not take things too seriously,” McGuffey said. “I would be hard on myself and he helped me to have fun.”
Along with being an athletic director and coaching girls basketball in the winter, Bamber coaches Liberty football and track and field. He is also a physical education teacher for Liberty intermediate and middle school. Before taking the athletic director position, Bamber was the defensive backs coach and special teams coordinator for many years for the high school football team.
“Coach Bamber does a really great job from an educational perspective of developing and building relationships with students,” Chesterton high school head football coach Mark Peterson said. “As a PE teacher he goes above and beyond and looks at the well-rounded student, which makes him an important part of the Chesterton educational setting.”
Blythe and Bamber are just two of many people who will be honored at the game against conference rival Portage.