Will Kelly ’23 has been a valuable Belmont Hill varsity basketball team member for the past three years. While his first season was during the COVID-19-altered year, he has gotten the full Belmont Hill basketball experience the past two seasons.
When asked how he views his role on the team, he responded, “I strive to be as best of a leader as I can. I try to do whatever [I can to] help everyone else be better and help out the team, whether that’s fighting for a rebound, hitting a shot, or filling water bottles”. Even though varsity games are much higher stakes, Will remembers a game against Fessenden on 3rds as his favorite memory as part of the Belmont Hill basketball program. The Loop™ showed up in the second half to support the freshman squad, spurring an enormous comeback. His most significant takeaway from this current season is that to battle through adversity, especially in a team sport, “everyone has to care and try. As a young team, we [all] needed to buy in and work together to achieve the success that we knew we were capable of.” While he played for many AAU teams, Will believes there was something special about playing high school basketball, “seeing your teammates in the hallways or [at] lunch is extremely special and something that I will miss from my time here.” As many Belmont Hill students know, there is something different to being on a team that practices every day after school with the coach-teacher model compared to an out-of-school travel or club team.
Outside of basketball, Kelly has formerly played soccer and tennis for Belmont Hill and plans to try out sailing this spring. While most memories of Belmont Hill Basketball bring him joy, one awful experience was losing his two front teeth last year in a game. Since then, his teeth have been replaced, and he says now that he always knows to “wear a mouthguard.” Will has had a successful Belmont Hill career on and off the court, and The Panel wishes him the best of luck in the future in all of his athletic and academic endeavors.
