With the next issue of The Patriot Post being released this month, here is a preview of two of the five winter sports currently in season; the remaining three will be in the magazine.
Boys Basketball
As head coach Raja Bell leads the Patriots under his second year coaching the varsity boys basketball team, he will look to continue establishing the culture in which he set the foundation for last season.
“We have to continue to build on the competitive culture that we started to develop last year,” Coach Bell said. “It starts in practice. We have to challenge each other and compete for everything in every practice. We are practicing at a more up tempo pace, and we try to make sure that everything we do in practice has a competitive element to it.”
After a 12-11 record in the 2019-2020 campaign, Coach Bell understands what the team will need to focus on as they head further into the year.
“In order for us to be a successful team, we must outwork our opponent,” Coach Bell said. “There are more specific things such as taking care of the ball, shooting the three well, being a good defensive team, but at the end of the day, we have to outwork our opponent.”
Girls Soccer
Looking to build off of last season’s loss in the regional semifinals, head coach Cindy Marcial will lead a senior-less varsity girls soccer team. Despite having no seniors, though, the majority of the team has played together for the past two years, something Coach Marcial believes will factor into the team’s success.
We are a young team with no seniors, but this is the same group that has been playing together on the field the last two years [and we] only lost three seniors last year,” Coach Marcial said. “For us to have a winning season we need to avoid injuries, believe in each other and work together as a team.”
By focusing on key aspects of team building, Coach Marcial believes the Patriots will prove able to rebound off of last year’s playoff loss and return to a state championship.
