To start off the new basketball season, William St. John, varsity basketball coach, will like to introduce a new program that he believes will benefit the basketball players and eventually hopes the team will make many accomplishments this season.
St. John believes his new program will help the players work more in unity but grow stronger as individual players. This new program will focus on defense, offense, conditioning, weight lifting, and film study. The system was introduced last year but this year it will be more enforced and perfected. One of the main techniques St.John wants to focus on is defense. This year the boys will  play smarter, get less or fewer fouls, get good shots and understand defense.
The purpose of defense is to try and get the player off balance and out of their focus zone. The difference with offense from defense  is to get the player off balance and out of their focus zone. It helps if a team always has a strong stance and if the players keep a good balance because if a player lacks defense it makes it easier for the opposing team to score. If a player lacks defense, this makes it easier for the opposing team to score points.
“If you hold your opponent to score less then you win,” said Michael Armstrong, varsity player.
There is a difference between varsity and junior varsity. Varsity typically contains more developed skills, agility and can be more physical than JV. If a player ever plans on joining the varsity team he should be more committed and make sure this is something he really wants.
“Keep playing hard, take academics seriously as you take basketball,”  said St.John.
Adrian Outlaw, the coach of the freshman team and JV team, believes that his players will be able to achieve a lot this year under this new program.

“I will not put too much pressure on them, but if they ever do plan on trying out for varsity, they need to go hard 110% of the time because no one will want it more than them,” said Outlaw.
Outlaw has picked players who he can count on, are coachable, and have skill. Outlaw wants his players to show respect for each other because they are more than a team, they are family. While being on his team he wants the boys to have fun but also develop their skills by the end of the season.
“The program can better my leadership and my scoring,” said Kamron Humphrey, JV.
Ben Goudeau, the freshman coach, will not push the boys to get as many wins because he is focused on developing the players’ skills and making sure they enjoy their time on the team since they are freshmen they will just be learning the basics. Especially since they are freshmen, he wants to show them that it more important to work as a team rather than focus on winning this early. Goudeau believes all of his players have potential if they truly work hard and push themselves to be great.
“I am more focused on making sure the boys develop their skills rather than winning because I want them to see the importance of improvement rather than achievement ,” said Goudeau.
By the end of the season, the long-term goal that all of the coaches have is for the boys to develop their skills while showing future players the new program established is beneficial.
“This program will help athletes understand how to be fully committed to something they want and to give their all,” said St.John.