UHS training pays off for state-winning basketball sisters

Two of the stars of Susquehanna Valley High School’s state-championship-winning girls’ basketball team credit special training they received at UHS Sports Performance with making theirs a powerful game.

Twin sisters Hannah and Michaela Haskell helped the Sabers achieve an undefeated regular season (25 wins, 0 losses), then go on to take the Class B final with a 55-52 victory March 17 over Irvington High School of the Hudson Valley region.

Both seniors found the extra edge they needed on the court this past season by visiting UHS Sports Performance two to three times a week for one-hour sessions with performance coach Andrew Long.  “These ladies showed true passion and dedication to becoming great athletes,” Mr. Long said.

The sessions made a measurable difference.

“We found that if we missed a week of training, we didn’t shoot as well,” Hannah said.  “But if we attended the training sessions consistently, we performed consistently.”

Michaela said she was referred to the program by a physical therapist after she had completed therapy for an injury.  She found she enjoyed the training offered by the UHS program, and persuaded her sister to join her.

“We did squats, dead-lifts, pull-ups and push-ups,” Michaela said.  “The training will be helpful for us later on, too, when we go off to college and get involved in sports there.  Andrew has shown us what to do on our own.”

Both sisters say they would recommend the performance training at UHS to other student athletes “100 percent.”

Mr. Long and William “Jay” Hubbard, field manager and lead athletic trainer at UHS Sports Medicine, said the training focuses on strength and agility improvement.

“Essentially the goal is to build bigger, faster, stronger athletes,” Mr. Hubbard noted.

At the same time, the training offers the students perspectives on several other ingredients for success.

“We also coach them in leadership, accountability and dedication,” Mr.  Hubbard noted.  “The athletes learn that they need to invest their time and attention to find the benefits they’re looking for.”

As the Haskell sisters demonstrated during this past championship season, those benefits can be outstanding and memorable.