By Chris Cox
With college athletes for parents, Will Cravens was born into an athletic family and knew that he’d be playing sports from a young age.
“I’ve been playing basketball really since I was born,” he says. “My dad played college basketball at Sterling and my mom played volleyball at Sterling. My dad also coached my sister’s high school girls basketball team. So, I guess, I always had a basketball in my hand and was always at practice with them.”
Cravens also says he’s always looked up to his dad, Kenny, and knew that basketball would be a way that they could bond. Will also says his brother, Remington, was another big influence and reason why he still plays basketball today.
“My brother graduated in 2017 and also played,” he says. “I remember out in the driveway my brother and his friends would come over and they would kind of pick on me in basketball and block all my shots. It made me better. It made me want to compete just a little bit more and it’s helped give me a little bit of an advantage now.”
To this day, Cravens has never grown tired of basketball and says its unpredictability is one thing that keeps him loving the game.
“Everything can be different any game,” he says. “You can have 50 points one game and the next have zero. Sometimes it’s your night and sometimes it’s not.”
As a team, Cravens hopes another year of experience will help the Bearcats go farther than they did last year.
“Last year we were pretty young with mostly sophomores and juniors,” he says. “With everyone a year older, I’d say a goal is to make it to sub-state and make a run. I think we can get to the sub-state championship and have a chance.”
Individually, Cravens would like to hit the 1,000-point mark this year. However, his main goal is to get his teammates involved in the game and try to help Ellsworth win in any way possible.
Outside of basketball, Cravens is a quarterback on the Ellsworth football team and is planning on running track in the spring. He is also a big hunter who will go with just about anyone who asks. Although just a junior, Cravens is already looking ahead to life after high school and hopes of to play basketball in college.
