By Derrick Smith

Some athletes are lucky enough to get to play alongside a sibling or close friend. Competing alongside them and working with them at practice makes the bond grow stronger. Tanner Croskey experienced this when his brother was a senior and he says that being teammates with his brother was a great experience.

“The highlight of my career was playing my last game with my brother Skylar,” he said. “We were in the regional championship against Pioneer-Pleasant and it was a hard fought game but we ended up losing. But after we heard the buzzer go off, we hugged each other because we realized that was our last time playing with each other. All the days where we would spend at home shooting on our basketball goal together came back to us. It is a great memory.”

Tanner is now a senior at Amber-Pocasset High School and is in his final season playing basketball for the Panthers. He has been playing the sport since he was in the second grade and currently plays point guard. 

Over his lifetime, Croskey has had some great people that have helped him along the way. He says that he is really thankful for them all, especially the ones that made a bigger impact on him. 

“My biggest role models are my parents,” he said. “I look up to them and they have raised me to do the right thing and I don’t know where I would be without two great parents. Another role model of mine is my older brother Skylar. I got the opportunity to play my freshman and sophomore season with Skylar and learning different things from him made me love the game of basketball.”

While he has had some great support over the years, Tanner has also had to put in his share of work and preparation.

“The biggest thing that has been a driving factor in success in my game is not giving up,” he stated. “As an athlete there’s so many days where you’re so tired, or you’re in pain that you don’t want to practice but telling yourself I can’t give up no matter how bad I’m hurting or how tired I am.”