Jr. A Hawks build around speed and skill

Justin Seward
Times Reporter

 

TheHoly Cross Collegiate Hawks Junior A boys basketball team will have a more youthful look and will have to rely on their speed to have success in this upcoming campaign.
“We’re a younger team this year, I’d say about half and half of Grade 8s and 9s, we are a little bit smaller but fast. Our plan this year is to play an up tempo, speed game, we’re going to be doing a lot of man-to-man defense so conditioning is going to be key,” said coach Troy Filipionek.
He admitted that this would be a rebuilding year with an emphasis on building team character.
“This year we’re treating as a rebuilding year. We’re going to be big about building not just basketball players but character, one of the things Mark (coach Rawlek) will incorporate is resiliency into our basketball season,” said Filipionek.
“We’re going to create some adversity for them and try to build resiliency. Our goal is to get better from now until the end of the year.”
The team will be working on a strong conditioning level and the basic fundamentals of basketball.
Hawks Junior A girls’ assistant coach Angela MacLean will be looking for her team to learn the basics of the game and develop around the talent that they possess.
“We have a lot of girls with some great talent and we’re currently working towards improving the basics and working skill development and hopefully we’ll have a strong year,” said MacLean.
When you watch the girls this year, you will notice that there are a lot of vocal players in the line up.
“I think we have a lot of girls that can be vocal players and I think they have a good knowledge of the game, so we’re going to be working on skill development to improve their play of the game,” said MacLean.
“(Our goal) is to learn the systems of zone defense and how we’re actually going to be getting our points. We’re going to be relying on lay-ups, fast breaks and good defense.”
MacLean hopes that what they can take from practices into games is a high skill level and being a well-rounded player on the court.