By Ty Hester,

First off, I’d like to express how excited I am to be coaching both the varsity boys’ and girls’ basketball teams this year. I’ve never been in charge of a girls’ team but I’ve been an assistant on multiple teams. After practicing with them for a couple of weeks, I think it’s going to be a lot of fun. It’s going to take a little time for the girls to become familiar with all of our terminology, feel comfortable with a new system, and consistently do some different things that we ask them to do, but I’m happy with how we’re progressing. The boys’ team returns all but one player from last year’s roster, and we have some new guys coming in that I think will contribute right away. I won’t be able to start with them officially until football season ends, so we’ll have to learn on the fly, to an extent. But I think that’s something we’re equipped to do.

My long-term goal for both teams is pretty simple. I want us to win as many games as we can while having as much fun as possible. We have around 30 games on the schedule right now, and we’re going to play to win every night. So, if we drop one, the new goal will be 29-1, so on and so forth. We’re obviously not going to talk about those numbers, we’re just going to try and go 1-0 every time we take the floor.  My short-term goals for each team are more important, in my opinion. I want us to come to work and get better every day, I want each member of each team to care more about the person next to them than they do about themselves, and I want to improve the relationship I have with my players on a daily basis. I think that executing those short-term goals will allow us an opportunity to achieve our long-term goal, so that‘s what we’re going to work on.

Helping me with the varsity boys’ team and coaching the JV boys again this year will be Steven Bryant, a 2017 RA alumni. I’ve known Steven for a while, dating back to my time as a student at RA. He is a great coach, a great communicator, he always comes to work with great energy, and the players love him. He was a huge asset to our team while also leading the JV boys to a record of 16-3.

Helping me with the varsity girls’ team and coaching the JV girls this year will be Rebecca Prosperie, a 2016 RA alumni. I’ve also known Rebecca for a while and I’m excited to work with her this season. Like Steven, she is a great communicator, easy to work with and fun to be around. Rebecca had a successful career as a player while she was at RA but after a couple weeks of practice, I think she will be an even better coach.

To close, I’m unbelievably thankful for the opportunity to work with the student-athletes we have at RA again this season. We look forward to seeing our fans and receiving your support in a few weeks’ time. Go Rebels!