Little puts off-season basketball into gear
By GEORGIA PURDY Newsboy Correspondent

Newsboy photo/Georgia Purdy JASPER'S ANOIR WALKER practices machine gun dribbling during the offseason basketball program at the high school.The program is promoting basketball at the high school and working on drills to improve the quality of play for the team.

Jasper High School's basketball off-season program is in high gear with a new weight room plus running, fundamental drills and a spring season league.

"We are excited to have a new weight room," Assistant Coach and Off-Season Coordinator Tim Little said. "We have new equipment including leaper machines we purchased with proceeds from the Little Dribbler program and other new equipment. Lowe's donated materials for weight platforms and Steve Smith's Building Trades class built them. We also have new squat racks and a dip station to improve arm strength."

The refurbished weight room and equipment is designed to improve overall strength.

"In basketball, improving core strength is as important as running," Little said. "You can't play in the lane without good strength. That was one of our problems last year. This will be especially helpful when playing physically larger teams like Silsbee, Hardin-Jefferson and West Orange-Stark."

JASPER'S VICTOR MIJARES works on dead lift during the Jasper varsity off-season basketball practice sessions. Newsboy photo/Georgia Purdy

"Weight training is good for both offense and defense. All other schools in our district already have weight programs. Kirbyville, for example, has a really nice weight training room for basketball."

Head Coach Terry Young said that with Little teaching fundamentals and Assistant Coach Kevin Jackson running the weight training program, he has already seen a difference in the players.

"I've seen a tremendous difference since we started this," Young said. "The kids are more explosive and the posts are developing in fundamentals. We are light years ahead of where we were at the beginning of the season."

In gym, athletes line up for post drills and two-hand dunks, spot shooting, machinegun dribbling with a ball in each hand, and defensive shooting. They are intent on the drills and seem enthusiastic about the new program, which involves weight training three days a week and drills the other two days.

The plan for next season is to have a 15 to 16-member varsity team.

"Junior Varsity tied for first place last year," Little said. "We will have quite a few coming from that team, some that are hopeful. We have also seen a lot of improvement with our freshmen in the last several months. Their record last year was not indicative of their talent."

In addition to weights and practice, team members have also participated in a spring league coached by members of the community.

"Teams are divided into age groups and some have names like college teams," JHS custodian John Johnson said. Johnson is one of those coaches from the community. "I think it has been going well. It gives the kids a chance to play organized ball instead of just going to the park and shooting baskets. A lot of other kids have come to watch, too. The games are played at the junior high gym."

In addition, new playbook software will enable athletes to sit down at a computer and learn plays. The department will also be purchasing a digital camera for recording games and software to keep more accurate game stats.

Both players and coaches appear excited about the prospects of improving the basketball program and especially excited about the weight-training program. Both see positive consequences for next year.

"This is a good experience for the team," Aaron Garrett and Terrance Avant said. "We can gain strength and it will bring out the best in us. That means improving both physically and mentally."

Teammate Jeff Beatty, however, offered what seems to be the ultimate force behind the team's enthusiasm:

"This is going to help us beat Hardin-Jefferson, West Orange and Silsbee and get us to State."