The Basha Bears are looking forward to our first season of competition in the AIA 5A Central Region. Coach Tim McBurney, Coach Carl Harris and Coach Jim Flannery started building the foundation three years earlier with a small class of freshman players. Now these players are seniors and they are ready to compete at the highest level of football in Arizona.

The entire summer break, all 56 days of it, have been a whirlwind of football activity. The Basha Bears competed in several passing league competitions and lineman challenges - ASU, Florence HS, Surprise, San Diego State University, Mt. Carmel HS, Mesa Community College, and Mountain View HS. We learned so much about ourselves during these competitions. We got a taste of what it is like to compete against the best in Arizona as well as the best in California. As a famous coach once said, "competition does not develop character, competition reveals character..." Our players now have a taste of what this first 5A Division 1 season is going to be like, the ups and downs and the highs and the lows. Our players discovered that they can compete with players from the top two programs in the state; they understand that those programs are on top of the mountain and we are just starting the climb.

Camp Basha 2005 was held in Heber, Arizona at Mogollon HS. This year we hosted Trevor Browne HS and the Canyon State Academy football teams. It was a full week of early morning workouts and then 7 on 7 and weight lifting and conditioning into the night. All 200 players became very familiar with Mt. Basha, the water tower, and the sand pits. The following players were most valuable campers as noted by the coaches - Kyle Flannery, Keith Taylor, Dorian Smith, Shane McBurney, Justin Evans, Steven Yena, Robbie Tarwater, Trace Wallace, Tom Olmstead, Ryan Figueroa, Jeff Whitlock and Payton LaCivita. These players never let up, never fell out of a run, never let up in a drill, they led by example and deserve special recognition.

Our student athletes start classes on Tuesday - July 26th. We are now only 40 days away from kickoff!! Thanks to Mr. Jon Perryman at ArizonaVarsity(Rivals).com for putting Arizona athletes in the national spotlight. Good luck to all of you this coming season.

Coach Tim McBurney and staff at Basha HS in Chandler, Arizona