By Matt Villagran, The Pulse staff writer
Indian Trail is already in midseason of basketball. The coaches for the two teams (for each gender) have given a quick summary of the season so far as of Jan. 11. Despite it being just their first year on the court, both teams hold impressive records. The boys are at 11-2; while the girls have a record of 6-4.
“It’s going well right now, the biggest thing is just preparing the boys for high school basketball,” said Coach Titus Redmond, for the boys team.
There is a strong emphasis on getting the team to that next level.
“The transition from middle school to high school is huge and we just try to make sure they get to know us and them, that they’re ready for the future,” he said.
“You know we got a good group of of guys, not only on the basketball floor, in the classroom, and outside the classroom,” Redmond said.
This year’s team is easy to work with because they are all good friends as well as “fun, and somewhat beyond their years,” he said.
“They’re really good kids, that like each other and all get along. That’s the biggest thing,” said Redmond, explaining why this year’s team is so manageable.
The best game moment so far was the “first game.”
“Just that excitement of being out there together, first time putting on our Jerseys, me wearing a shirt and tie,” he said.
Toughest opponent turned out to be Racine Case because of the 40 turnovers and 19 rebounds Indian Trail gave them. Sadly there will not be a rematch anytime this season, he said.
Goals for this year as planned by Coach Redmond are to improve.
“Yes, it would be great to win every single game, obviously we would love that but we have a bigger picture, we are preparing these boys for the varsity level so everyone has to get better, every skill, every single thing, ” he said. “That’s our goal, always.”
Meanwhile, on the girls team, Coach Sara Ames says the season is going well so far.
What they hope to do better on is overall rebounding and finishing strong in the end, as well as free throw shooting and baskets when they count down the stretch. This should be easy to accomplish with the team this year, she said.
“They are a great group of girls, strong student athletes, most of them are straight ‘A’ students, very dedicated to the community and outside activities,” Ames said.
She described the best game moments as “probably playing over winter break and just playing aggressively, running our offense, effectively, we just let it slip away, the whole team played hard in that game.”
Their first game was their toughest.
“Their first game against Oak Creek, they were much more aggressive, physically stronger, and they held us at just six points in the first half,” recalled Ames.
Ames hopes the girls will continue with their successes so far.
“We look to finish with an overall record of 500,” she said. “Also every girl should be improving whether it’s lay ups or a higher free throw percentage.”