The boy’s varsity basketball season is on the horizon, and there is a new face coaching this year’s team. It will be the first season under new coach Stephen Bernard, and with that comes comes excitement and new expectations for the season.
“We are a new group under a new coach, new philosophies and new schemes,” Miles Jamieson ‘20 said. “We have the talent to go on and win a district championship for the first time in about 30 years.”
Captain Alex Shaheen ‘20 has high expectations for this season when it comes to the playoffs, but has another goal for this year’s group as well.
“Our goals are to win our league, win our district championship in playoffs and to beat North twice,” Shaheen said.
Bernard wants to bring in and maintain a competitive atmosphere in practices and games, and get his team to become a close-knit group.
“My expectations are to bring in a new culture to the program,” Bernard said. “One where we are competing every day in practice and competing on the floor during game time. We are looking to share the ball as a team, play as a team and win as a team.”
Shaheen believes all the players on the team are close in talent, and that helps with the team pushing each other in practice.
“The talent gap is not as big as it has been in the past,” Shaheen said. “All of our players are really close in talent, so practices are more competitive and hardworking.”
The team has been preparing for the regular season by playing scrimmages and giving many players a chance to play with one another.
“We have had four or five different scrimmages so far this year. We have played different lineups to get more people involved,” Bernard said. “We have a new philosophy, and I think things are going well as people are learning new positions and how to play as a team.”
Jamieson enjoys the new coaching style and is excited to see how it translates when the season begins.
“I like the looseness of the new coaches. They are really modern, and they can relate to us well because they are younger, but I think as a team, we can really bond to that and link to that and feed off of the energy that they give us,” Jamieson said.
Bernard is eager to get the regular season underway, as it has been a long process to get the job, and then a lot of preparation with the team.
“I am looking forward to the first game,” Bernard said. “There has been a lot of administration work, a lot of preparation and we are just looking forward to actually have our first game of the season.”