As the winter rolls in, basketball season is underway with practice for both boys and girls at the William E. Hay Stettler Secondary Campus in full swing.
Having coached the JV girls last year, Kim Poapst said, "Basketball is life can be a quote that may well describe our team this year."
"We have 14 very dedicated young ladies playing," said Poapst. "Basketball can teach us many things such as respect, teamwork, pride, confidence, leadership, responsibility to self, family, and academics by working hard and achieving the goals we have set for our team."
Poapst has been coaching these girls since Grade 6 and some have been in Camp McE at Stettler Elementary or Camp Teckla since they were in grade 1.
"We will have many successes this year but we will also meet many challenges in our season, as we already have a player with a possible fracture in her foot," said Poapst. "Our student athletes will learn how to balance their schedules, set goals and learn how to celebrate our victories on and off the court as well as how to handle our selves when we hit roadblocks."
Poapst has not set any expectations yet for her team, and will decide on their goals in the first week of practice.
"We have not set our expectations for this year and will do that as a team this week," said Poapst. "But, as far as strategies go, we will be adding more to our offences and will be pressing more on the defence as well. Run Run Run!"
On the boys' side, Warren Aspenes is at the helm for the seventh year, helping his team to get ready for the season.
Aspenes' basketball philosophy is 'high school athletics is just another opportunity for learning to occur – teach students skills, sportsmanship, commitment and responsibility to the goals of the team'.
"The result is that students learn to compete and strive to be their best in situations that test their abilities, patience and work ethic," said Aspenes. "And most importantly, sports are fun and we always strive to make things fun for the athletes."
Speaking of expectations from his boys this season, Aspenes is yet to set goals.
"Expectations are always based on the developmental level of the players at the start of the season and where we need to progress to," said Aspenes. "I will evaluate that this week."
Last year Aspenes introduced the read and react offence and wishes to continue and develop the various levels that it has to offer this season.
"The offence helps to provide a basic foundation for the players to work from but still allows individuals to make decisions and be creative," added Aspenes.