Sumner High basketball embraces past while building for future

Huddled together on a regulation-size basketball court constructed inside a barn in Enumclaw, the Sumner High boys basketball team could just feel the positive energy surrounding the 2015-16 season.

While players were trying to not shiver in their thin warmup suits as cool fall air drifted through the barn and they prepared to be photographed for the yearly program, they were also beginning to feel the throwback, old-fashioned, “Hoosiers”-like theme the program embraced for the upcoming season.

“We wanted that old-school, (Sumner) Valley toughness and family feel,” said senior guard Dawson Cutright, one of the team captains.

Players loved the atmosphere of the barn (“It’s pretty sweet,” Cutright said), and with a uniform combination that looks like it was plucked straight from a 1965-era locker room, the Spartans are hoping the theme will help the tightly-knit squad come together to navigate a tough 3A SPSL schedule.

“The whole idea is to promote the history of the program,” said Sumner coach Brett McDaniel, who is entering his ninth year with the program.

But the idea behind the theme is to also strengthen the family-like bond on this year’s team while continuing to incorporate and reach out to the youth basketball feeder programs.

“It’s just about getting kids excited to be a Spartan,” McDaniel said.

McDaniel also hosted an inaugural Father-Son Turkey Trot Shootout for his players on Thanksgiving morning. Players brought their fathers — and even some grandfathers — out to the gym for shooting contests and games.

“It was cool to be out there with my dad and some of the other dads, just playing and getting our work in,” Cutright said. “It brings all of us together as a family and a program.”

“Again, it’s about building that culture,” McDaniel said.

McDaniel is in the midst of tracking down Sumner High players from the mid 1960s to come out and be part of a halftime celebration at a game this season.

The Spartans will be an intriguing team to keep an eye on this season in a tough 3A SPSL. Traditionally a guard-heavy, jump-shooting team that thrives on ball movement, Sumner has some size this season with starters Christian Lewis (6-foot-4) and Jeff Carnithan (6-foot-6).

“We’ve got four potential lineups we can throw out there this year,” McDaniel said. “We can do a lot of mixing and matching.”

The Spartans open the season Wednesday (Dec. 2) with a nonleague game against Black Hills.

This story was originally published December 2, 2015 at 11:10 AM with the headline "Sumner High basketball embraces past while building for future."