Junior Will Farrington has played basketball for the Wolves since entering the school as a freshman. He had an immediate impact and started playing on varsity in his inaugural season. This is not a simple accomplishment and undoubtedly took hours on top of hours of hard work.
From a young age, Farrington knew the ins and outs of basketball, and people took notice. His coach recognized many exceptional traits early on.
“His attitude is absolutely incredible,” coach Andrew Beck said. “When he first started playing for me in his seventh-grade year, I knew he was special. His attitude has never wavered, it doesn’t matter if he misses five shots in a row or makes seven in a row. He doesn’t boast; he is always humble.”
Attitude is one of the three values taught at A.E.F. Academy, the basketball institution where Farrington plays in the summer. These three values allow him to excel against his competition.
“Attitude, Effort, and Focus are the three things that you can control,” Farrington said. “As long as you’re controlling those three things, you can have a good game.”
Playing through these three aspects of the game, Farrington improved rapidly and began training 1-on-1 with Beck. His training earned him a spot on the 15U ETG team his freshman year, which is an AAU team that travels around the country to play competition from around the world.
“You’d go play against big-time basketball players and then you’d be at a hotel with all your friends. It was definitely a fun experience,” Farrington said. “I think it’s made me work harder because when I played against those guys, I knew I needed to work harder to get to where they’re at.”
Farrington utilizing these values has taken him a very long way. His coaches have not only noticed these throughout watching him over the years, but they’ve also seen other important aspects of his performance.
“He’s very poised. The moment is never too big for him, he’s always ready to make the best play or knock down a clutch shot. He never feels rushed and is very calm when he gets the ball,” Beck said.
Farrington’s long history surrounding basketball has set him up for success. Him utilizing these three values has not only helped enhance his performance, but it also all rubs off on his teammates.
“He tends to lead by example, in terms of how hard he works, but also in how he takes coaching,” Assistant Coach Spencer Peterson said. “He’s open to being coached and wants to improve, and having one of your leaders on the team willing to be coached, it makes it so anybody should be able to be coached.”
Farrington being a leader of the team with no seniors, his workload has increased heavily. Nevertheless, he continues to work hard and display the attributes of attitude, effort, and focus.
“He puts a lot of effort in, a lot of people don’t know this but he wakes at 5:45 every morning to go lift at Elkhorn Training Camp, and sometimes he’ll come lift with me at Common Ground after practice,” Junior Cole DeBuse said. “He puts in a lot of work outside of practice.”
Farrington has evidently put in lots of work to make himself the basketball player he is today. But skills won’t make any difference if you aren’t a good teammate, and Will is the perfect example of being that.
“He always has energy from the bench even if your team is losing by 20,” Beck said. “It’s a player like Will that you really need to lead your team.”
