Volleyball only ended on the weekend and basketball is already heating up at Edwin Parr Composite.
Practices for the senior girls and boys teams began more than a week ago and things are looking fairly good on both sides of the court.
Wade Hicks is co-coaching the senior girls this season with Suzi Beckett – who is also the head coach of the junior varsity girls team. The reason for that is Hicks is filling in as the senior boys coach as they have been unable to find someone to take over after the last coach stepped down.
“Suzi is going to help out with the girls, while I spend time with both teams,” Hick said.
“I hope we can find someone, but it’s hard to get someone from the community that have other commitments.”
So, in the meantime, Hicks will perform double duty and it begins this weekend as the senior girls head to a tournament in Edmonton.
However, the team isn’t going in the greatest of shape as some injuries have crept up on the girls.
“It goes back and forth all season with injuries, but we have a group that can play multiple positions on the floor. It is and it isn’t good timing for injuries,” Hicks explained.
“You can’t ease them into basketball season. You’ve got to get them in shape, there’s lots to learn and simply have to hammer it into them really quick.”
Hicks stated his club is well-balanced, having good outside shooting combined with strong post players and a few athletic guards that can get in and corral rebounds.
“We are a fairly solid team with no glaring weaknesses,” he said.
“The only thing that might be said about us it that we are a really young team.”
And Hicks isn’t kidding, as the Predators will go with five Grade 10s – three of those will likely be starters – along with four Grade 11s and one Grade 12 player.
While the team maybe young, it certainly isn’t inexperienced as most of the Grade 10s have played club ball for two years along with the school team.
“Some of these girls have played 80 games before they hit high school, so the only thing I think will be a bit of a shock will be adjusting to the speed of the game,” he said.
Raw talent
With this season being Hicks first look at the boys team, it’s proven to be an eye-opening experience for him.
“Working with them last week, it was lots of fun and I can tell they are a good group and very strong,” he stated.
“We have four or five guys that are at least 6’2” and only two didn’t play football this season. So with the good size guards we have, they should be fairly competitive.”
Hicks has been surprised a bit by some of the talent he’s seen and figures if some of them catch onto the skills they need, then it could be a good season.
In the Zone
Hicks anticipates both the boys and girls teams from Barrhead and Morinville girls to be among the teams to beat on the road to the provincials.
“Our girls lost by two in the zone final last year, it was a heartbreaker, and Barrhead is going to be tough,” he said.
The girls and boys will see how they stack up next Monday when they head to Barrhead to open the North Central League season.
This the first year for this, created by Hicks, as way to see teams you wouldn’t normally see during the season.
The teams won’t play a home game until their tournament on Dec. 12 and 13.
