Madison Alcerro

Still excited about her team’s state championship win against Parkway, Madison Alcerro (12), a forward for the Lady Broncos, sat down to talk with us about her success on the basketball court. She started playing almost eight years ago at Copper Mill Elementary. It was obvious from the moment she picked up the ball that she had a gift. She was encouraged by her friends and family to keep playing and see where it took her.

“Everyone was telling me I was good at it, and like, I wanted to keep going to see how much better I could get,” Alcerro said.

Despite having a natural ability, Alcerro still had to train for hours to perfect her skills. Whether at practice or at home, Alcerro never stops thinking about basketball and how she can improve her game. During the school year, she trains after practice is over by either staying at school to work with her coach or goes home to get some shots in with her mom. Even during summer break, when most students are relaxing, Alcerro is playing basketball. She plays AU, where she has practices every day and games every weekend. And she doesn’t plan to stop this rigorous training anytime soon. She’ll be attended Southeastern, University of Louisiana, or Baton Rouge Community College next fall, where she will continue her basketball career.

The moment her team won the state championship was incredibly rewarding for Alcerro and her teammates. It was something that had been on their minds all season, and Alcerro encouraged the girls around her to strive for a state championship win, something that hadn’t been accomplished by the Zachary Girls’ Basketball team since 1927.

“We [went] to practice every day and [saw] the 1927, so we [knew], like, it took that long for us. This is our senior year, we have eight seniors, so we [needed] to win,” Alcerro said.

Alcerro hopes that the team’s win will shine a light on women’s basketball in the future. Throughout her four years at Zachary, Alcerro noticed that the boys’ basketball team often recieved more attention than the girls’ basketball team – something she believes is absurd and unfair. She hopes to see a change in attention from fans and students in years to come.

“I wish we had more people supporting us because I feel like they support the boys more than they support the girls, so I just wish we had more fans,” Alcerro said.

Landrie Barr

Last year, Landrie Barr (12) was the only member of the tennis team (including boys and girls) to make it all the way to the state championship. She’s one of the best players to come through Zachary, and her love for the sport shines through at every match.

Barr started playing in middle school and immediately knew this was something she wanted to continue working on. She felt encouraged by her friends, family, and coaches to put in the work to improve.

“I made great friends on the team. My coaches always motivated me. And I really just wanted to get better. I wanted to keep building more and more upon that skill,” Barr said.

She’s done this in and outside of practice, focusing during instructional time with her coaches and then expanding her skills at home. She’s found new ways to improve endurance and speed, even using roller skating help train her legs to move quickly across the court.

“I go skating a lot, so that I’m faster on the court… It’s good to be able to combine different things, so that you can improve certain skills,” Barr said, “Because I play tennis, I’m better at skating. Because I skate, I’m better at tennis.”

And her hard work has obviously paid off! She’s been playing on first court (first court refers to the first match and is designated to the best players) since her sophomore year, and last year she made it all the way to the state championship, which is incredibly difficult in tennis. Despite her success, she’s often overlooked by her male counterparts. Barr says that many people don’t understand the differences in the way that men play tennis compared to women, which leads to incorrect assumptions about the talent and skill of female players.

“Women’s game is a lot more focused around technique and placement of the ball instead of just sheer brute force,” Barr said, “So, a lot of guys will look down and be like, ‘Oh, I could easily beat you at this because I can hit harder than you.'”

Kai Richard

Kai Richard (11) is a star athlete, excelling in multiple sports – track and field and powerlifting. She’s ranked in the top ten girls in the state for both the shot put and the discus throw in track and field. As for powerlifting, Richard qualified for state last year (her first year on the team) and is headed back this year as a junior.

But her success hasn’t come easy. Richard joined the track and field team as a freshman and had to work hard to improve her throwing distance. Her determination took her from throwing 70 feet and not competing her freshman year to a whopping 117 feet last year, though she’s aiming for even further this year.

“It was hard my freshman year… But my sophomore year, I worked over the summer… by myself in my backyard, and I managed at the end of the season to throw 117,” Richard said.

She was motivated to continue to push herself and reach for her goals because of her deep love for the sport and her team. She loves the people she trains with because they bring so much positive energy to practices and meets.

“It’s honestly a lot of positivity, and honestly, I feel like our team is just like a whole big family that just gets along and just [has] fun at the end of the day,” Richard said.

Similarly, Richard fell in love with powerlifting because of the people. The discipline and constant encouragement from her coaches fueled Richard’s devotion to the sport.

“Honestly, I love how [our coaches] push us,” Richard said, “And like, even if we are having hard days, [they] make sure we leave all the stuff that happens [behind] and make sure that [we] come to practice and [we] just do [our] work.”

Along with being drawn to the discipline and commitment that powerlifting encourages, Richard said that competing at powerlifting meets as a woman is one of the most empowering experiences. The displays of strength from hundreds of women leaves Richard feeling absolutely inspired.

“Most people see females as like, ‘They can’t lift a lot of weight,’ and stuff like that, so being able to see that many females in one building lift weight is incredible,” Richard said.