As was learned last week, the middle school girls’ basketball teams at Tecumseh just completed another great season, as both the seventh and eighth grade teams combined for a 37-1 overall record and both won the league championship.

For Ceslie Shellhaas, it is extra sweet. Not only was she at the coach of the eighth-grade team, but she is an Arrow alum who is making the most of her first head coaching experience.

Shellhaas, who is part of the successful Shellhaas Racing Team who competes at various tracks in the Midwest during the summer, has poured her heart and soul into her basketball team. She has seen the best and worst of the program, and is excited to continue to progress as a coach.

Shellhaas, a 2008 Tecumseh graduate and former girls’ basketball player, was an assistant coach with current Arrows varsity coach Danielle Thomas for a few years. After she graduated from Wright State University, Shellhaas is back with the program just completing her second year as a head coach.

“I really love this sport and it was the perfect opportunity for me to be involved again,” Shellhaas said. “Once you graduate and start your life, if you don’t stay active in the sport, it is very difficult to get involved later. To be able to be part of such a great program and to be able to see where it has come from when I was in high school is amazing.”

“What has made Tecumseh stand out and become the program is the youth program,” she continued. “That is why I believe we are advanced compared to other teams in the CBC is our skill level and what we instill into the kids a lot younger.”

Being a coach not only means X’s and O’s and trying to win games, but also trying to help teach the be a good role model for the kids as a coach.

“It’s a very tough age to be in middle school and to be a positive influence and try to help them through all of that,” Shellhaas said. “I am young enough to understand, but not too young to be able to be a support for them.”

“Last year was a trial run for me as a first-year coach, but this year was a lot different for me,” she added. “(Seventh grade coach Mike) Mastin brought a lot of knowledge of the game to me and to be able to have someone like that to learn from was great.”

While she is coaching eight-grade basketball, she will never forget the times she went through coming up through the Arrows program.

“I have always been a Tecumseh supporter, and to be able to be part of this program and see where it has gone...who wouldn’t want to be a part of something like that? I take a lot of pride in that.”

“The kind of program that Danielle has built shows people that they can play college ball, and she has made a name for Tecumseh,” Shellhaas added.

While her winters are spent on the sidelines in the gym, Shellhaas’ summers may consist of some basketball events as well, but her attention is focused on being a key member of the Shellhaas Racing Team, as she looks to continue her success racing on area tracks.

“I do bracket racing, which isn’t necessarily the fastest car or motorcycle that wins, it’s all about consistency,” she said. “It is extremely competitive and I have been racing since I was eight.”

“My dad got me involved and I started racing motorcycles in 2012,” Shellhaas added, who races quarter-mile in eight and a half seconds at 150 miles per hour. “It is quite an adrenaline rush. In a race it doesn’t matter who I am racing against, I am always racing against myself.”

Shellhaas has been successful in the past with her events, and there is a lot of pressure for her to perform, especially on the travel circuit she is involved with.

“Most races are lost by error from the rider whether it’s reaction time or whatever. The competition to win a large amount of money makes it very competitive.”

“I race April through September, one weekend per month,” she added, racing in places all over the region. “I race in a couple of different classes, Super Comp and Pro ET.”

Ceslie races with her father Brad, her brother Bradley, and his fiancé, and enjoys the time to race with her family.

“It’s so fast-paced and so much is going on,” she said. “It’s mentally and physically challenging that is so much different than basketball. You can travel all the way to Alabama and drop money on the entry fee trying to win big money, and I could lose the first round and have to go home. There is so much pressure.”