Park’s girls basketball team has had a change in leadership this year and it has been the third switch in coaches in the past three seasons. With this being the third coach-swap in a row, all eyes are on the team to see if this move will stick. Usually, the first season of managing a new team is difficult but head coach John Hayes said he is ready to rise to the challenge.
According to senior captain Bella Miller, the team usually struggles with the constant change of coaching staff but this year she hopes things will turn out differently. She said practice and game experiences are already improving.
“Coming off of last year, a lot of people, including me, had a pre-season notion that, based on what happened last year, we were going to have a hard time with new coaches,” Miller said. “Jumping from coach-to-coach multiple seasons in a row is difficult but I hope that these ones are here to stay.”
Head coach John Hayes said he had specific goals for the team at the beginning of the season. He said he believes that if he communicates his ideas to the team during the start of the season, then they will have a successful year.
“I wanted to make sure our seniors have a good last year of high school basketball and build a team based off of hard work and effort,” Hayes said. “I also wanted to talk about controllables, the importance of your attitude and effort and trying to focus on that every practice (and) every game.”
Senior captain Gabby Fadden said she agrees with the goals of the new coach and she appreciates how he’s going about managing the team. She said there has been an improvement from the methods of last year’s coaches to this year.
“Our new coach is a lot more understanding and he really does want what’s best for us. A lot of coaches previously prepared for the future before the present,” Fadden said. “He’s doing a good job at understanding us and getting to know what we need individually first before thinking about the future.”
Hayes said he wants the players to grow to trust him as he knows that transitions from coach-to-coach are hard on both players and the coaching staff. He said collective honesty will help him to build a better team-relationship and help the team improve.
“I’ve made plenty of mistakes along the way. I’m just figuring out that in this first year of coaching varsity girls’ (basketball) here in Park, there are going to be mistakes made,” Hayes said. “(I’m) owning those and just letting the girls know that, ‘Hey, I’m going to make mistakes as your coach, you’re going to make mistakes as players, but it’s all going to be okay. Keep showing up.’”
Park’s girls basketball team has added three female assistant coaches. According to Miller, besides the change in head coach, the addition of female assistant coaches brings a unique and personable perspective to the girls team—something that only female coaches can.
“Our head coach is a male, but we have three women on our staff and that helps a lot,” Miller said. “Especially when it’s women’s sports, because women can relate to women on a different level. It always brings a different kind of comfort.”
According to Fadden, having the new coaches has had an impact on the mentality of the team. She said the change in leadership has done a lot to raise morale and improve team attitude.
“The new coaches have positively impacted our team. Last year, a lot of girls were struggling with the mental aspect of basketball and this year, team morale has improved greatly,” Fadden said. “Coming to practice is a lot easier and it’s a way more positive environment.”
Miller said the new coaching staff have made a substantial effort to build relationships with the players, and that the new, positive, energy that they bring benefits the team during this time of change.
“They approached (the) season with good energy and positive attitudes. They showed us that they’re here with open arms and willing to build relationships with us and help us have a good season,” Miller said. “Not only on the court but off the court too.”
Fadden said the new coaches have helped the team grow and develop as both players and individuals. She said they’ve been doing a good job of getting everyone on the team involved.
“We have a pretty young roster so a big goal of ours is to come together as a team and our coach is doing a great job at this,” Fadden said. “We have a lot of things outside of basketball, like team fundraisers and team bonding, and we do this thing called LAB as well. It stands for Life After Basketball, which are like learning sessions about life outside of basketball. Last time we had a U.S. Marine come in and talk to us about jobs.”
Hayes said he’s excited for the future of Park girls’ basketball. He also said he has a lot of hope and ideas for this season and the ones yet to come.
“I want to build a great basketball program here at Park. I believe that we have the talent in this community to put forth a great product of basketball every season,” Hayes said. “I want to find the girls at Park that want to play basketball and get them ready to build a great basketball program here.”
