Freshman Caden Hoffmeister has been waiting to play high school basketball since he was a kid.
But a few months before the basketball season, he had the first season of four taken from him.
While at a pre-season practice, he injured his shoulder trying to pass the ball and learned from the doctors that he wouldn’t be able to play this season.
Hoffmeister is an extremely talented freshman basketball player who has loved basketball and it remains a big part of his life.
When he found out that he was going to miss his first season of high school basketball, he was heartbroken.
“It sucks a lot because I was working really hard to play,” Hoffmeister said.
His friends and teammates are also sad for him.
Freshman Zach Puccinelli, Hoffmeister’s friend and teammate said, “I really felt bad for him because that’s like the main thing he wanted to do, and I was just like that sucks because I couldn’t imagine the thing I wanted the most to be taken away from me.”
According to Hoffmeister, what happened to his shoulder was “I was throwing a pass, kind of sidearm, and someone grabbed me from behind. I just heard kind of a velcro noise, and (a shoulder muscle) tore.”
Other than being talented, Hoffmeister is a great leader on the court.
His friend and basketball teammate, freshman Tyler Adamson said, “He brings us that hype, he makes us play aggressively. He doesn’t give up, even if we’re down 100 points, he’ll still fight.”
Another friend and teammate of his, freshman Vincent DeWeerdt, commented, “He really brings out the intensity for us and nobody really does it like he can.”
While not playing basketball, Hoffmeister is a great person who is kind and enjoys hanging out with his friends.
“He’s been my best friend for over 10 years now, almost it’s crazy,” Puccinelli said. “I always enjoy hanging out with him, he’s a great guy and has a great energy to him.”
Hoffmeister was one of the best players on his seventh and eighth grade teams at Magnolia. Both teams made it to the league finals and almost won both times.
“The finals against Lyman Gilmore in 8th grade we were down by like six or seven, and you could just tell, for Hoff, he just had this fire to come back and not let us lose without a fight,” Puccinelli said. “Every time he got the ball he was just aggressive and cut the lead down and helped us bring it to a tie. He just gave so much energy.”
While Hoffmeister’s injury is very unfortunate, this isn’t going to stop him.