Sure, Gil Farley follows the two-time defending Class A state champion Canterbury girls basketball team. His daughter Bailey is a key reserve for the Cavaliers.

He is also interested in how the girls teams at Snider, Angola, Homestead, South Side, Warsaw and Leo are doing as well. That’s because each one of those schools have players who he considers to be part of his “family.”

Gil Farley coaches the Gym Rats 2013 team, which has taken its summer success and spread it among the high school teams to make immediate favorable impressions as freshmen.

The nine players on the AAU team that finished ninth in the nation last year have helped those seven prep teams to a combined 44-13 record this season. All of the players from the Gym Rats 2013 play considerable roles on their high school teams, and at least three of them are starters.

“High school basketball really pales in comparison to what we do in the summer time,” Gil Farley said. “There is an adjustment for the girls as far as playing in front of the bigger crowds and playing for their schools and playing in front of their friends. Once they get past that, they have played in plenty of big games, national championship games and state championship games.”

Angola and Canterbury have two Gym Rats. Twin sisters Rachel and Ericka Rinehart start for 7-2 Angola, and Bailey Farley and Bryanna Moore are reserves for the 6-1 Cavaliers.

Emily Bley, daughter of Gym Rats 2013 assistant coach Mike Bley, starts for 7-1 Homestead. Also making contributions are Meredith Shipman at 7-2 Snider, Keanna Gary at 7-2 Leo, Lindsay Baker at 7-0 Warsaw and De’Joya Johnson at 3-5 South Side (the Archers are 2-0 in the SAC).

Gil Farley and Mike Bley, who is also an assistant for the Bishop Luers boys team, began coaching the girls team when they were fifth-graders and the core of the group has been together since seventh grade. They added Baker for next season.

“It is something Mike (Bley) are both very passionate about,” Gil Farley said. “Obviously because our daughters are involved, but it goes much deeper than that. It is nice to go around and see the success that they are having at the high schools.”

During the AAU summer circuit, the Gym Rats 2013 (63-12) won the two state championships (AAU and USSSA) among its eight tournament titles and was ninth at the 13U AAU nationals.

“They have played in so many tournaments, and they have played in so many games they are used to being successful, and they are not afraid to step up to the challenges,” Gil Farley said. “They are not as shell shocked as some of the other kids.”

Success isn’t the only thing that binds these nine players together. College interest is a common bond as well. Close to 100 colleges, including Tennessee and Purdue, have expressed interest in the players.

The Gym Rats 2013 play in front of 40 to 50 college coaches during NCAA-certified events in Illinois, Kentucky, Ohio and Florida. Farley and Bley also keep coaches informed through the team’s Web site, www.gymratsfw2013.com, and a Twitter account.