The Fairview girls’ basketball team didn’t just take a road trip Sunday — they stepped into their coach’s past and turned it into a memory of their own.
The Warriors traveled to South Bend, Ind., to watch Notre Dame’s women’s basketball team knock off No. 22 North Carolina, 73-50, but the game was only part of the experience. The Irish also honored their 2001 national championship team during the contest, marking the 25th anniversary of the title — a team that included Fairview coach Karen Swanson Haan.
For Swanson Haan, the trip was about much more than basketball.
“I knew it was going to be a special event, and I thought it would be something really cool to share with our girls,” she said. “We’ve been talking a lot about finding another gear, and playing really hard and in another level of effort. I thought it would also benefit them to see a team as elite as Notre Dame, and also North Carolina, play, and that maybe they can learn some stuff from that as well.”
The moment hit a little differently when Swanson Haan stepped back onto the court, this time with her players watching from the stands.
“I think the coolest piece for me was that the girls got to be there to see it,” she said. “To me, the experience that I had was such an incredible opportunity, and I feel so grateful for it that I want to use it in a way to give back and use everything I learned and soaked up from that experience to make the experience for these girls at Fairview truly a special one for them.”
Senior Bella Pecchio-Schuerger said seeing Notre Dame through her coach’s eyes added another layer to the trip.
“It was really fun,” Pecchio-Schuerger said. “We got to see kind of what our coach grew up in, and all the college girls’ basketball is in the media, so it was cool to see those players play.”
And then came the ceremony, when history met the present.
“That was so cool,” Pecchio-Schuerger said. “I knew about it, but I didn’t know everything in depth, like the journey that they went on and how they won nationals. It was really cool to watch and see everybody.”
By the time the Warriors piled back onto the bus, the win on the court had been matched by something just as important off it.
“I think a big thing has to do with being on the bus on the way here, because everybody’s just like talking and having fun, and we’re already all so close,” Pecchio-Schuerger said. “We were all cheering at the game and everything, meeting all these people like, I feel like it really brought us together.”
For one Sunday in South Bend, Fairview got basketball lessons, a history lesson, and a reminder that sometimes the best team-building happens somewhere between the bus ride, the stands, and a shared moment that everyone will remember.
