Written by Newspaper Staff Reporter Izzy Penge

With it now officially being fall season, the basketball community is starting to prepare for their tryouts and season, which will be approaching within the next month. Head Coach of the boys’ varsity team, Chad Phillips, says that he “can’t wait to see all our boys’ hard work put into action. We get to compete against some of the top teams in the nation, and we all believe we can be successful against any team we play.” This will be Coach Phillips’ fourth year leading the boys’ basketball team, and he is preparing to “be consistent with our preparation and effort in order to finish at the top of the region” because “we graduate(d) six seniors and our whole starting lineup” and “compete in one of the toughest regions in Georgia.” Coach Phillips also looks forward to training his kids to turn every game into a “dog fight,” where they will give 110% of hard work in order to earn their success. Coach James Bouyer, who will be coaching the girls’ varsity basketball team for the third year, says, “inexperience at key positions will be our biggest challenge [this year].” Coach Bouyer also says, “with lack of varsity experience at those positions, it is important to not try and teach too much information too fast. As the inexperienced players get valuable practice and games under their belt, they’ll be fine prior to the end of the season.” While we can assume both these young teams will have a rocky beginning, don’t count them out too fast. Coach Bouyer says, “The challenge of developing, coaching, and competing with a group of young ladies that have the desire and motivation to perform well this season” is something he is looking forward to the most this year. He knows what it takes to create a team from scratch, and he plans on not only doing that but succeeding in creating a foundation where younger kids can come into the program and continue to build on top of it. Anybody is welcome to come and try out with the intent of “getting 1% better every day…and having fun,” as Coach Bouyer advises. Tryouts for both teams will be at the end of the month, starting October 28th.