The energy is electric inside Farrell Field House on Friday and Saturday nights when the Proctor Hornets take their home court. The crowd that fills the packed bleachers and lines the walls represents a cross-section of both the Proctor and local basketball community – current students, parents, local alumni, area residents passionate about basketball, and faculty and staff – all united in their passion for the sport and support of these student-athletes.
With a blend of veteran leadership and emerging talent, the Hornets have demonstrated resilience while navigating the constant challenges inherent in NEPSAC Class B competition. As the team enters a crucial stretch of Lakes Region contests with playoff implications, Coach Ben Bartoldus ’10 reflects on team culture, tactical adjustments, and the impact of his senior captains. Together with Assistant Coach Chris Allen ’12, Bartoldus has maintained an unwavering focus on developing not just skilled basketball players but young men who embody the program's core values of passion, integrity, and honor. He reveals how basketball serves as a vehicle for personal growth and life lessons that extend far beyond a player’s Proctor basketball career. Team Captain Chris Chol also shares how the team's unique chemistry grows from shared dorm life, team meals, and the emphasis on positive communication both on and off the court.
Looking at both on-court performance and off-court dynamics, what are your goals for this group during the remainder of the season?
Coach Bartoldus: Fundamentally, my goal will always be to support and guide our student-athletes in the pursuit of both their individual and collective goals. As a team, we have isolated a NEPSAC Class B Playoff berth as our primary goal. Culturally, we talk a lot about passion, integrity, and honor, and our coaching staff seeks to exemplify and integrate those values into how we prepare, how we practice, how we compete, how we interact with and engage with teams around the NEPSAC, and greater communities surrounding Proctor. We challenge our hoopers to embody those values and allow each value to guide them in the classroom, on the court, with their friends, and with their families.
As team captain, how do you work to build and maintain connections and team chemistry both on and off the court?
Chis Chol ’25: What is special about our team is we are all good friends off the court. Most of us live in a dorm with each other so that already breeds a tight bond. We always sit together at meals and laugh and joke endlessly. But this kind of bond doesn’t happen automatically. Our coach, Ben Bartoldus, stresses team chemistry on and off the court. At the very start of the season, Ben organized a team dinner at Andrew Huff’s house. The food was good; but the dinner gave our team a feel of a family. Ben strategically pulled the adults away from the dinner table so that just the team could sit together and eat— like a family— and we laughed and joked together endlessly. And on the court Ben boosts team chemistry by emphasizing positive communication between teammates. This manifests itself in picking your teammate’s head up if he gets down after missing a few shots or making sure we’re communicating on defense so that our teammates trust that we have their backs in tough situations. Ben literally drills this stuff into practice and it clearly has paid off in terms of our team chemistry.
With a guard-heavy roster, how have you adapted your offensive system to maximize your talent while working to address defensive challenges?
Coach Bartoldus: We have definitely encountered some match-up problems being a guard dominant team and it has greatly influenced the collection of negative outcomes we have experienced. In my evaluation, a lot of the out of conference match-ups challenge us in this regard. Although we’re .500 in conference, I don’t think our losses have been a byproduct of height, rather poor execution of details both offensively and defensively. From a statistical standpoint, we had a pedestrian start shooting (20% 3ptFG; 31% 2ptFG), compounded with turnovers (25% of possessions had). Fortunately, those numbers have been injected with some energy, and we’re now buzzing!
How have Senior captains Chris Chol and Wilkin Paulino shaped team culture while leading through both impressive victories and challenges?
Coach Bartoldus: After committing to the University of Albany (American East Conference), we have observed and experienced a different level of engagement and leadership from Wilkin. When I think of Wilkin, I think of the adage “self made.” During my stint as Assistant Coach at New England College (Great Northeast Athletic Conference), Head Coach Charlie Mason continually preached “self made” to his players and to me as an aspiring coach. In my evaluation of self made individuals, they don’t have to say much to get the most of those around them, their actions speak for themselves. Wilkin is the embodiment of “self made” and is respected and followed as a leader because of it.
Chris Chol is the lifeblood of Proctor Basketball. He has seen, endured, and experienced it all in his five years with the program. I have been fortunate enough to watch his evolution as a young man and a young leader. Despite some of the complexities that are byproducts of his competitive nature, Chris is one of the most socio-emotionally aware individuals I have encountered in my coaching journey. As a leader, Chris recognizes the importance of communication and values transparency, both in relation to his teammates and coaching staff. In my evaluation, one of the most challenging circumstances a student-athlete must navigate is truth. It comes in many forms and is administered in many ways. As his coach, I admire and appreciate the courage, calculation, and consistency of truthful and constructive communication he provides to his teammates. It is rarely wrong and always humbling to those who are ready to receive it.
Wilkin and Chris partner well as leaders. Where one struggles, the other excels. We are very proud, privileged, and honored to have them serve as our Captains this year and a large hole will need to be filled next season.
Can you share a specific game or moment that you feel best exemplifies this team's growth and resilience?
Coach Bartoldus: We talk about “belief” a lot as a unit; it really stems from our core values of passion, integrity, and honor. If an individual continually exercises their passion with integrity and honor the entities that inspire them, they will ultimately find belief in themselves and their cause. In itself, I feel that is where we have had growth and it has influenced our resilience as a group. I don’t have a specific game that exemplifies our team's growth, but I’d say if you were to observe practice Monday, January 13th, and Thursday, January 16th, you’d get a strong sense of who these young men have the potential of becoming when the ball finally stops bouncing.
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