The Owner's Box, Ep. 32.

Foxboro High's Katelyn Mollica (11) is nearing the end of her senior high school season.

The Original Gangsta is back -- my audio blog, "The Owner's Box," with a very interesting Episode 32.

My guest is Foxboro High School basketball star Katelyn Mollica, who is nearing the close of her senior season having amassed almost 1,400 career points and having been a part of two state championship teams.

It's the first time I've had an active high school athlete on the podcast. I've had a lot of coaches and former athletes visit, but a perspective that has been missing during this year-long pandemic has been that of the high school athlete. Through no fault of their own, the athletes have been asked to make sacrifices of their personal interactions, their practice time, their fans, even the games themselves, while we adults have been running around in circles trying to figure out how to keep a microscopic virus from upending our lives.

The athletes haven't complained -- or at least if they have, they keep it to themselves. They've tried to make the best out of what COVID-19 allows them to do -- playing reduced schedules, accepting bizarre rules changes thought to slow the spread, and wearing face masks while trying to go all-out in what little competition they've been allowed to experience.

I can guarantee you that Katelyn and her teammates had high expectations for their senior years, and have had to accept this "new reality" in order to glean some fun out of these bleak times. And if you ask me, they've handled it better than a lot of adults.

The talented Ms. Mollica talks openly about her joys and disappointments over the past four years, and the high hopes she has for the next stage of her career when she enrolls at Stonehill College in the fall. Listen to this podcast, and I guarantee you'll come away with a lot of respect for the younger generation.

It's all on The Owner's Box. Enjoy.