Dylan Breese is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Cactus High School for AZPreps365.com

Ben Seale went to a private Christian school until fifth grade and has been home-schooled ever since.

As a freshman, he continued home-schooling but made the Cactus varsity basketball team.

Home-schooled athletes usually don’t interact with their teammates on the same basis as a typical high school student.

However, building chemistry and bonding with his teammates at Cactus has never been an issue for Seale, now a senior.

“I think I kind of proved myself as a freshman and people saw that I could play a little bit, and that just helped the friendships grow and [we] had mutual respect for each other,” Seale said. “I saw people who could hoop and they saw me so we just grew as friends like that.”

Seale has been a varsity player all four years at Cactus, but this year has been his best as a leader and a player.

He is averaging 18 points, 6.3 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 2.7 steals per game while leading Cactus to its best record since the 2015-16 season at 14-11.

Even with his career high numbers, Seale’s impact on the team runs much deeper than that.

“If some of us has our heads down, he’s quick to pick us up, and he’s also a pretty vocal leader which is a pretty nice thing to have on the team,” senior captain Conner Cordts said. “He brings a lot of energy like when he throws down a dunk in a game, it gets all of us fired up. At practices, he’s always going at us, giving his 100% and making us all better. I’m lucky he’s on our team and not someone else's team.”

Seale’s personality is also beloved by his team.

“He’s just a fun outgoing person [and] a great person to be around,” senior captain T.J. Rucker said. “[I] grew up with him basically all four years at Cactus, love him to death.”

Even though Seale is cementing himself as an outstanding player and leader, he wants to make sure the Cobras basketball program continues growing.

“What I want my legacy to be is just building this program,” Seale said. “We’ve never really had a basketball program at Cactus. Cactus is kind of known as a football school and so my class, 2020 with T.J. and Conner, we’ve tried to build a basketball program so it’s something here. Like kids want to come watch us and the student council wants to do stuff for us, so just building a program that lasts beyond me.”

Seale wants to continue his basketball career beyond high school.

He has a few Division II and Division III offers, but he is keeping the door open. 

The main goal for now is to end the season strong and try to make a run in the state tournament.

Seale and the Cobras go on the road to take on the Peoria Panthers Tuesday at 7 p.m.