As the basketball season is past the midway point in their season, junior Callie Bemis shares what she has in her backpack along with things that make her backpack her own.
Bemis carries essentials an athlete might carry in their backpack like hand sanitizer, an extra mask, chapstick, KT tape, an ankle brace, a Hydro flask water bottle, her warm ups and most importantly, her basketball shoes.
What sets Bemis’ backpack apart from most of her teammates’ backpacks is that her backpack is from her AAU travel basketball team “PGU,” the Playground Club.
“If it wasn’t my AAU backpack, I would not choose it,” Bemis said. “I would stick to the Antioch bag so I could match with my team.”
Bemis also has a bedazzled basketball keychain and a motivational keychain that say “believe in yourself” and “you will achieve greatness,” respectively.
On the side pockets, candy and candy wrappers of caramel candies can be found from Steve Young, who is usually at every Antioch boys and girls athletic event.
“Mr. Young gives us these caramel candies before every game,” Bemis said.
Bemis keeps an extra ankle brace and KT tape in her bag just in case another teammate or herself ever needs it.
“I do not use my ankle brace or KT tape often, but I keep it just in case. Freshman year, I tweaked my ankle and I used my KT tape for my shins whenever they would hurt,” Bemis said.
Along with the extra ankle brace and KT tape, Bemis also keeps a singular shoe air freshener at the bottom of her bag that she swears keeps her bag fresh. She has had this shoe air freshener since fifth grade and ever since she lost the second one, it has sat at the bottom of her bag.
Something important in Bemis’ bag are her basketball shoes. She has custom shoes from Nike that she made herself during freshman year. They match the uniforms along with the school’s colors. They include her number, 11, near the heel and her name inside the tongue of the shoe.
“They are falling apart, but I have not gotten around to buying new ones because I don’t want my shoes to lose their magic and the memories they hold,” Bemis said.
Lastly, something that has sat at the bottom of Bemis’ bag are the snap off pants the team had received at the start of the season.
“We have had these pants all season and we have not worn them yet, but we were planning on saving it for the Lakes game,” Bemis said.
The girls varsity basketball game play against Lakes on Jan. 26 at Antioch.
