Caden Heyn is a journalism student at Gilbert Christian High School assigned to cover high school sports for AZPreps365.com

Robert Peterson is the new Gilbert Christian JV boys basketball team head coach. He has a very impressive coaching background with 20 years coaching thus far. He is currently teaching social studies at Casa Grande High School while balancing his coaching job at GCHS. He has done a great job and the players cannot get enough of him. Freshman Brendan Quillman says that he is one of the best, if not the best coach he has ever had the pleasure of playing for.

Peterson is very good at teaching these young men important skills on and off the court. He takes real life situations and can relate them to basketball in a way that everyone can understand. During this pandemic, he has been a light to all players telling them stories about his difficulties teaching and coaching through COVID-19. For example, these masks, how can one teach and coach the whole day wearing these? His determination is amazing and undeniable. 

Some other things that the team loves about him is his love for Boise State and he also has a really cool phone case! It’s an all blue, mint condition Boise State phone case with the famous 'Bronco' right in the middle of it. So far the JV Knights are doing very well. However, Weston Anderson said that if they did not have Coach Peterson they would probably not be that great. He believes that Coach Peterson has great insight based on his experience with this sport.

The whole team is clearly enjoying the season and their precious time with Peterson as their new JV head coach. One player says, “He makes the season so fun,” while another player, Sammy Lindsay, tells us, “I really enjoy hearing about Coach Peterson’s other school. It really opens my eyes and gives me a different perspective on life outside of basketball and Gilbert Christian. I honestly don’t know what I’d do without this man in my life.“ So I guess you could say it’s pretty obvious that Coach Peterson is doing what he was hired to do, which is to win but, most importantly, to have fun and learn too.