Ginger Scheidt is the 2023-24 Calaveras Enterprise Calaveras Female Athlete of the Year. Scheidt played volleyball, basketball, and swam during her senior year at Calaveras. Guy Dossi/Calaveras Enterprise
Ginger Scheidt learned many lessons during her four years as a Calaveras High School student-athlete. Perhaps the most important one is that good things come to those who wait.
Scheidt experienced both the luxury and the curse of playing on some of Calaveras’ top teams. It wasn’t until her senior year that the three-sport athlete truly had her chance to shine, and she did not disappoint.
“It was definitely frustrating, and I did have those moments with my coaches where I said, ‘Hey, I feel like I’m putting in the work and I just don’t see the minutes coming to me. What can I do to get more minutes on the court?’” Scheidt recalled. “The answer was always more work. My junior year was eye-opening because I knew that we weren’t going to have those older players. It was going to be me and my fellow senior teammates who had to step up. During my junior year, it was frustrating, but I knew I had time to put in a lot of work to make sure my senior year would be my time.”
Scheidt, the Calaveras Enterprise 2023-24 Calaveras High School Female Athlete of the Year, transitioned from a supporting role throughout much of her athletic career to becoming a star. During her senior year, Scheidt was a Mother Lode League first-team volleyball and basketball player, and one of the most dedicated swimmers in the spring.
Bringing the boom
Ginger Scheidt was a first-team volleyball player. Guy Dossi/Calaveras Enterprise
Scheidt began her junior year on the volleyball court but didn’t see much action. Despite the limited playing time, she remained a good teammate by being loud and supportive. Her efforts were recognized at the end of the season when she received the team’s Character Award.
When her senior year began, Scheidt was ready to move from the bench to the court. Calaveras head volleyball coach Rebecca Conley-Elliott noticed a change in Scheidt’s play at the end of her junior season, and it only took a few days of practice in her senior season to see that Scheidt was determined to make an impact.
“I noticed a lot of growth in Ginger as a volleyball player during the end of her junior year,” Conley-Elliott said. “She started to take more of a leadership role and was exemplifying all the primary standards of a teammate. She was always someone the girls looked to for guidance and leadership. She demonstrated it more on the court during her senior year. She was not only leading the team physically with her involvement in our systems, but she was also just a good person. Many girls in our program looked up to Ginger. She was a good teammate, a great competitor, and had a good mind for the game. She was always there to support anyone around her.”
Guy Dossi/Calaveras Enterprise
Scheidt started the season strong and maintained her momentum. While enjoying her senior season, she initially thought it would be her last. However, a visit from a college coach midway through the season changed her perspective.
“In the middle of the season, we played Summerville at home, and a JV coach approached me and said, ‘You know you have a college coach looking at you,’” said Scheidt, who will play volleyball next year at Folsom Lake College. “That kind of opened my eyes. I couldn’t believe she was there for me. It wasn’t really a reality for me until then, and that opened up my mind to play club volleyball my last year, hoping to get noticed by more colleges.”
Scheidt was one of only three seniors on the team. With a roster full of underclassmen, she heard talk of this year being a rebuilding one, with major success expected in future seasons. Instead of feeling overlooked, Scheidt embraced her leadership role and aimed to help the younger players develop, setting them up for future success.
Guy Dossi/Calaveras Enterprise
“I was ready to be a leader because I knew I had those qualities and skills,” Scheidt said. “I was excited for the freshmen and sophomores being brought up because I knew them outside of volleyball, and they are awesome girls. I was excited to be someone they could look up to and be a positive example.”
Calaveras placed third in the Mother Lode League and lost in the opening round of the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Division IV playoffs on the road to El Dorado. Scheidt finished the season with 142 kills, 22 aces, had a serving percentage of 91.4, eight blocks, 89 digs, four assists, and 249 serve receptions. She recorded 10 or more kills six times, including a career-high 14 kills in a 3-1 win over Amador.
“She was an amazing athlete to coach,” Conley-Elliott said. “I’m so thankful for the opportunity I had to coach her for two years. She was very coachable, took feedback well, and implemented it right away. She helped hold the whole program to the high standard we set. If you told her something once, she’d do it, and that’s the dream for a coach.”
Living like Lilly
Ginger Scheidt gets a hug from Lilly Buter after losing in the playoffs to El Dorado. Guy Dossi/Calaveras Enterprise
On Nov. 29, 2023, Scheidt was preparing for a home preseason basketball game when she received a call from her father. She learned that her close friend and fellow senior, Lilly Butler, had been killed in a car accident. The moment she heard the news is one Scheidt will never forget.
“I can remember what I was wearing and exactly where I was when I found out,” Scheidt said. “I don’t think I started realizing it until I waited for my dad’s conversation with me to end, because I didn’t want to interrupt. I finally spoke it out loud, and that’s when it all became real.”
After losing Butler, Scheidt tried to return to normal life, but it wasn’t the same without her close friend. Just 51 days after Butler’s death, her volleyball jersey was retired during a rivalry basketball game between Calaveras and Bret Harte in San Andreas.
With everyone on the court and in the stands wearing pink in Butler’s memory, Calaveras and Scheidt held on to beat Bret Harte by one point. Following the victory, Scheidt, with tears in her eyes, watched as Butler’s jersey was retired. Just as she’ll never forget the moment she learned of Butler’s death, she’ll always remember watching her friend’s jersey being retired.
“It showed me that things can go beyond athletics and a rivalry,” Scheidt said. “It was beautiful how Bret Harte showed up and supported us. Lilly was a friend to everybody from Bret Harte and Calaveras. It was a happy night because we won, but right after, it was sad and another reminder to me and my friends from Calaveras that she’s actually gone. Again, it’s kind of beautiful because every time I visit that gym, I have something to look at and be reminded that she’s always looking over me.”
Taking her shot
Ginger Scheidt was a first-team basketball player. Guy Dossi/Calaveras Enterprise
When it comes to basketball, Scheidt only knows life on the varsity level. As a freshman, she was a member of Calaveras’ spring team, which could only play six games because of COVID-19. She was part of the 2021-22 team that made it to the section championship game and won two state playoff games. As a junior, her minutes increased, but she still wanted more playing time.
Scheidt took her lack of playing time as a challenge and, instead of feeling slighted, used it as motivation to work harder and prove she belonged on the court.
“During practices, maybe the morale was a little bit low, and I knew that was my time to give 110% and stand out, show that I have been putting in the work and I want it really badly,” Scheidt said. “From my freshman year to my junior year, I had a plethora of examples to see running the court. I took traits I liked and traits I didn’t like and morphed them into my own example. At the end of my junior year, I told my coach I was ready for big minutes and 32 straight minutes of basketball. He put his faith in me, and I was ready for the challenge.”
Guy Dossi/Calaveras Enterprise
Calaveras head basketball coach Eric Baechler knew he had a special player in Scheidt and could see she had been putting in the work away from practice. When her senior year started, Scheidt was unstoppable, and Baechler was thrilled to see her finally get the success she worked so hard for.
“It was an explosion out of the gate,” Baechler said. “It was double-doubles every game. You could count on 10 points, double-digit rebounds, and she’d defend their toughest player. She’d post up, and she also had an inside-out game where she’d post up and shoot. She really worked on being more physical this year and dominated down low, especially early in the season.”
For the first time in two years, Calaveras didn’t finish the season as Mother Lode League champions. And, as with volleyball, the basketball team had many younger players. Baechler wasn’t surprised by how Scheidt remained positive during the hard times and worked with the younger players to make them better.
Guy Dossi/Calaveras Enterprise
“If she was having a bad game, which wasn’t often, she still pushed her teammates from the bench or on the floor,” Baechler said. “What people don’t see is how she drives people during practice. She makes her teammates better just by her presence on the court.”
Scheidt’s basketball career ended in the opening round of the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Division IV playoffs to West Campus. It was the first time in three years that Scheidt and Calaveras didn’t advance past the opening round.
Guy Dossi/Calaveras Enterprise
“It’s a little upsetting how it ended,” Scheidt said. “I’m not upset at my teammates or anything like that. It’s upsetting thinking, could I have done anything else to better the team, or could we have gone harder in practice to continue on, just because I was so used to beating almost every team we faced by 20 or more points over the last two years. It was definitely a wake-up. If I could go back and change some things, I would, but it is what it is, and things happen.”
As a first-team all-Mother Lode League player, Scheidt averaged 8.9 points per game, 5.4 rebounds per game, and 1.9 steals per game. She finished the year with 214 points, 129 rebounds, 19 assists, 45 steals, and 10 blocks. Scheidt scored 10 or more points 10 times and scored 21 points in two different games. She had 12 rebounds in a win over McFarland and 10 boards and 15 points in a win over El Dorado.
The value of staying active
Ginger Scheidt swam during her junior and senior year at Calaveras. Guy Dossi/Calaveras Enterprise
For Scheidt, idleness is her worst enemy. After her junior basketball season, Scheidt felt the need to occupy her time with a spring sport instead of doing nothing. She chose swimming and had no problem diving into a sport she knew very little about.
“I really like being on a team, and I really like having a schedule,” Scheidt said. “I always knew that after school, I’d be in practice from 4-5:30. I’m not doing a sport now, so I go home, wait a couple of hours, go to the gym, and then go back home. Being on a team is good for my mental health. I don’t like sitting and not doing anything. It was just fun to be on the swim team, and I definitely wasn’t a competitive swimmer at all.”
After wrapping up her senior basketball season, Scheidt returned to the water. Calaveras’ first-year head coach Tobin Huff, who had been an assistant coach during Scheidt’s junior year, knew what to expect from her as a senior. He anticipated her to be the hardest worker on the team, and she didn’t disappoint.
Guy Dossi/Calaveras Enterprise
“Ginger is a great athlete, a big competitor, a great person, and a natural leader,” Huff said. “Even though it may not have been her No. 1 sport, she was still a leader in the pool and one of the hardest workers, if not the hardest worker out there. It was definitely a pleasure to coach her.”
During her senior season in the water, Scheidt swam the 100-yard butterfly, the 200-yard individual medley, the 200-yard freestyle, the 200-yard freestyle relay, and the longest event, the 500-yard freestyle. For many swimmers, the 500-yard freestyle is an event to avoid, but Scheidt embraced the challenge.
Guy Dossi/Calaveras Enterprise
“The girls who do the 500, that’s like their only event, so they are super good at it,” Scheidt said. “Every time I did the 500, I could hear my mom in the back of my head saying, ‘You’re going to shave off 10 seconds,’ and then I would. My biggest PR (personal record) in the 500 is one time I shaved off 30 seconds. It was fun to compete against myself.”
Huff added, “That’s just Ginger. She wanted to do whatever she could. She actually liked the 500 more than the butterfly. My challenge was getting her to have fun, because she wants to compete and to win, and she would put herself through torture to get those points. My biggest challenge with her was trying to find something she’d actually enjoy, and that wasn’t the butterfly. She had much more fun with the 500, and I was happy when she found that out.”
Building friendships
Guy Dossi/Calaveras Enterprise
Scheidt has been an athlete since she was a little girl. There were many reasons she was drawn to athletic competition, but perhaps the top reason was the ability to make friends and memories.
“As a little kid, being good at sports or winning wasn’t a big deal at that time,” Scheidt said. “What drew me to athletics was the team aspect of it. I’m a very big ‘we’ person, and I put others before myself. Creating bonds with people on teams is what meant the most to me.”
From playing youth sports to four years at Calaveras, to her future at Folsom Lake College, Scheidt has proven to be the ultimate teammate, and because of sports, she’s made lifelong friends.
“It means the world to me,” Scheidt said about the people who have come into her life as a result of being an athlete. “I have so many past and present teammates who I can always text to hang out with, and I share those relationships with. For that, I’m very grateful.”
For more pictures of Ginger Scheidt’s senior year, click the link below.
calaverasenterprise.smugmug.com/Ginger-Scheidt-Calaveras-2023-24-Female-Athlete-of-the-Year
Hall of Fame
Calaveras High School winners of the Calaveras Enterprise Female Student-Athlete of the Year award
2005 Carly Whitney
2006 Katie Busi
2007 Katie Busi
2008 Bethany Basques
2009 Cecily Basques and Kelsey Hull
2010 Tanna Bindi
2011 Sam Golston
2012 Madison Cox
2013 Brianna McGinness
2014 Kelly Airola
2015 Hannah Hull
2016 Kaylyn Hedstrom
2017 Isabella Moyer
2018 Jasmine Blair
2019 Madison Clark
2020 Keelie Koepp
2021 Angelina DeLeon
2022 Madison and Bailie Clark
2023 Bailie Clark
2024 Ginger Scheidt
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