The Wantagh High School Girls’ varsity basketball team has a motto this year: “Defend ‘til the end.” Everyday Coach Bujacich stresses to us how important defense is. You can’t teach defense. Defense comes from inside of you. There is no better feeling then stopping a girl from going to the basket or stealing the ball from her.

Defense is something that you can control. You can’t control if your shot will fall that night but you can control how you perform on the defensive end. There are no excuses on defense. When you play great team defense, it leads to better offensive opportunities. When you make a stop on defense it leads to fast break points.

Defense is one thing that impresses college coaches. You could be the best shooter in the world but if you don’t play defense they will not take you. Defense plays a big role in where you end up playing in college.

Many coaches dedicate a lot of time during practice to defense. Half of our practice is going over defense and ways to stop the other team from scoring. Defense seems like such an easy concept but when you are in the moment going one versus one on the other girl you have to be focused and figure out the best way to stop her without committing a foul.