Saying that her team was “going through the issues that all teams go through over the course of a season,” St. Edward High School girls’ basketball coach Michelle Dawson was greeted with a first as a coach when her team emerged from a team meeting this winter alerting her that they had a new team pet, a fish named Nigel.

While it’s difficult to gauge Nigel’s impact on the team, the Lady Wave made it to the state finals for the first time since 2007, where they placed third.

Nigel rotated between players’ homes throughout the season, and attended games via the carrying case below, even getting to sit at the scorer’s table on senior night. Nigel will likely move on to become the team pet of the St. Edward’s girls’ soccer team this spring.