High School Look Back: Branson London (Barren County)
His high school career may have ended earlier than he wanted, but Branson London can look back on a successful four years as a member of the Barren County High School boys’ basketball team. London grew not only as a player, but also as an individual – which is the best part.
“High school basketball has definitely had a huge impact on my life,” London said. “It was amazing to see the support my family and friends – and even strangers have shown me (support) throughout the last four years. I’ve matured a lot through the game of basketball. I’ve learned what being a true leader really is. Going from being a role player my sophomore and junior seasons to being a leader my senior year was a huge difference.
“I feel like the biggest life lesson I learned overall is that no matter what you’re doing, give it your best effort. You can teach fundamentals in sports, but you can’t teach heart. And I tried to let my love for the game show in my play style.”
In his final season as a Trojan, London averaged 7.9 points and 3.3 rebounds per game while helping lead his team to both the District 15 Tournament championship and Region 4 Tournament first round. Following a highly successful season in 2015-16, Barren County lost a significant load of production, but still found ways to be successful in 2016-17.
“After losing four seniors – three of which led our team in scoring and rebounding – I felt it was a necessity as one of the two seniors on this year’s team for me to step up,” London stated. Coming into the season, nobody expected much from us as a team. After all, we did lose a lot of scoring and rebounding from the year before. But I feel like we did a great job of proving people wrong. We went 6-0 in the District in the regular-season and fell short to Monroe County in the District championship game.”
With his playing days behind him, London is now focusing on furthering his education. However, he wants to return the game one day.
“After graduation, I plan to attend Western Kentucky University and major in Physical Education,” London noted. “I also plan on trying to coach at a high school somewhere.”
Now that his hard work has payed off, London has a message for athletes still playing at the prep level:
“My message to anyone still playing is simple; play your heart out. As someone who loves the game of basketball as much as I do, my favorite people to play with are the people who play every game like it’s their last. Take advantage of the time you have still in high school basketball because if you’re lucky enough to avoid a serious injury, it’ll be your senior District Tournament. For all the seniors, be leaders – dive on any loose ball, take every charge possible and get all your teammates involved. The underclassmen are looking up to you and will more than likely try to mold their playing style around yours.”