BY VICTORIA WILKINSON
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Sophomore Joe Cirrincione has been pulled up to play varsity basketball straight after freshman, completely skipping JV. He was on the freshman team last year and proved to be the kind of player RHS’ varsity team needed this year.

“He’s a great player,” boys varsity basketball coach Greg Granucci said. “If he wasn’t, he wouldn’t be on varsity. He works hard. He’s high energy, so he does a good job for us.”

Cirrincione practiced and played games with the varsity team in the summer creating relationships with his now teammates.

“I got some time to get to know them and they were really nice about bringing me into the team,” Cirrincione said.
According to teammate junior Tommy Edwards, the team welcomed Cirrincione and think highly of him as a player and friend.

“He’s actually fitting in really well,” Edwards said. “We all get along. He works hard and is a great player.”
Cirrincione is excited to be on varsity to be able to improve his skills and gain more experience.
“It’s definitely more challenging and a faster paced play,” Cirrincione said.

According to Granucci, Cirrincione getting to play with experienced players is the benefit of a sophomore being on the varsity team.

“His ball handling has gotten better and I think he’s working hard on his shooting and that’s getting a little better too,” Granucci said. “He is improving quite a bit.”

Edwards thinks Cirrincione being added to the team will not only help improve his playing but the team as a whole.

“He just brings the energy up on the team,” Edwards said. “He’ll definitely help us because he’s just good enough so he can really help us throughout the season.”

Although Cirrincione’s old teammates are proud of him, they feel his absence on the court and wish he still played with them now on JV.

“He was one of the biggest players on our team last year and it really hurt having him pulled up,” JV basketball player former teammate Blake Beaman said.