He traveled his own road to success

Havre High senior Josh Warp doesn't know life without basketball. It's the game he's loved to play, for as long as he can remember. And his love of hoops ultimately blossomed into an all-conference career in the HHS basketball program. As he heads to college to play at the University of Providence, he is thankful to get the chance to continue playing the game he loves.

"Basketball to me is more than just a game. It's something I always did my entire life since I could walk and it's always been my favorite sport," Warp said. "I'm glad I get to be able to play it after high school. That's a big relief for me because I don't know if I could give it up just yet."

Warp followed the legacies of his older brothers who also played basketball at Havre High. His oldest brother, Dane, is the all-time leading scorer for the Havre boy's basketball program as well as the all-time leading passer in Havre football history. Dane went on to play basketball at Carroll College where he was a two-time NAIA All-American. The Middle brother, Isaac, also had a successful career at Havre as he was all-state in both basketball and football.

"I knew when I was leaving eighth grade, I knew I had big shoes to fill from what my brothers did in high school and I had fairly big expectations because of my last name," Warp said. "I felt like I had to do good in high school sports, and I thought I did OK."

However, Warp's high school career did not start out on the right foot. When he first tried out for the Havre High basketball team as a freshman, he did not make the junior varsity team and was only on the C-squad. Rather than letting that disappointment discourage him, it motivated him to train harder. He felt like his hard work came to fruition his junior season when he was named an all-conference player.

In his senior season, Warp and the Blue Ponies won the regular season Northeast A divisional title. They won the title in their final game of the regular season with a win on the road at Lewistown. Warp believes this game is his favorite basketball memory, not just because they won a divisional title, but also because they got revenge for a loss at Lewistown the previous season.

Warp's basketball career started because of his brothers' influence. He also got his competitive edge from them as he tried to defeat them in their driveway during his younger years. He credits all this practice to making him the player he is now. Even now, Warp uses his free time outside of sports to dedicate himself to basketball. He continues to train with his brothers as well as learn from them so he knows what to expect.

"They'd seen it all before me and so they taught me what they learned from going through everything," Warp said. "I was able to go through all of it knowing what's going to happen to me."

He also learned about basketball by spending his free time watching the game. His favorite player to watch is Damian Lillard, the all-star point guard for the Portland Trail Blazers.

"I try to model my game after his, how he's able to stay calm after hitting big shots," Warp said.

Warp has certainly honed his game and will keep doing so in the future. However, while basketball runs in the family, for the last four years, Josh has also gone his own way when it came to being a three-sport athlete.

Warp has played golf and tennis at Havre High. He chose those sports over football, a sport that his brothers had successful high school careers in. Even though he played football in middle school, Warp believed he was too small to play in high school so he decided to play golf in the fall. Even though basketball is Warp's greatest passion, Warp excelled as an all-conference performer in both sports and as an all-state golfer, as he finished fifth in Class A this past fall, earning a spot with the Argo golf team as well.

"It's incredible how good Josh has become at tennis and golf. It's absolutely impressive because those are two very difficult sports to learn from the beginning," said George Ferguson, Warp's golf and tennis head coach. "He really dedicated himself to both and it speaks to how good of an athlete he is."

Warp grew to appreciate golf for its differences from basketball. Since golf is an individual sport, he knows the only person stopping him from achieving success is himself. This also had taught him how to be mentally resilient.

"It's a game against yourself. When you're playing golf, the only person that can beat you is yourself," Warp said. "Something I've had to deal with since I was a freshman is getting too mad after not hitting a good shot or something and so as the years went and as I learned, I was able to cope with that better."

This spring, Warp is competing in his final tennis season at Havre where he has been competing in doubles along with Trenton Maloughney for the Ponies. Warp credits Ferguson for getting him into tennis. As his tennis coach for all four years of high school, Ferguson has seen him grow into a strong player.

"I've been able to coach Josh from the very beginning. He nearly made state as a freshman, and now, he's become one of the very best players in the state this year," Ferguson said. "His progress as a tennis player has been incredible.

"Josh is a heck of a kid to be around," Ferguson added. "He's been a joy to coach. He's a competitor, he hates to lose, probably more than he loves to win, and that drive has really pushed him to be great in the two sports probably no one expected him to excel in. But he has excelled at golf and tennis and it's been awesome to watch because, again, those are two really tough sports to learn. So I couldn't be more proud of him. He chose a path, and he's followed it, he's stayed the course, and now he's reaping the rewards of being so dedicated and driven. Basketball will always be Josh' sport, but, I'm so happy he also chose to play tennis and golf, and you know what, he's pretty dang good at both of them, too."

While this is his last season playing tennis, Warp is more focused on adding to his legacy at Havre High by winning a doubles state title along with Maloughney. The duo took first at last week's Northeast A Divisional, and now, they're a top four seed at the state tournament.

"I'm trying just to focus on winning as many matches as I can without focusing on this being my last season," Warp said. "Me and Trenton got a pretty good chance at doing fairly well at the end of the season, so I like to try and think about that instead of this being my last time."

Even while competing in golf and tennis, Warp remained dedicated to basketball by focusing on his education in order to have the grades necessary to be a college athlete. He more than exceeded academically as he was named academic all-state all four years of high school, will graduate with a 4.0 GPA and is a member of the National Honor Society.

After his career at Havre is over, Warp will attend college at the University of Providence where he will study accounting and continue to play basketball and golf. Warp accomplished another goal of his when he earned a scholarship to play college basketball to pay for college. He will now get the chance to keep his favorite passion going for another four years.

"It means a lot, especially playing the game since I was really little," Warp said. "To be able to play it in college is what everyone dreams of."