Last night, Nov. 7, the HHS boys’ varsity basketball team opened their season with a win against Cornerstone who they lost to last year. Players and coaches have high expectations for this season after the team’s elite eight appearance in the state tournament last year.
This year, the boys’ varsity team has a new head coach, Elijah Garrison. With one win under his belt, Garrison has cemented his role as head coach after being an assistant for HHS basketball the past few years.
In his first season on the job, the AHSSA has adopted a new rule for high school basketball, a 35-second shot clock.
Garrison has prepared his athletes all pre-season by changing their style of play.
“It is going to be a higher pace,” Garrison said. “We are going to try to put pressure on the defense within the first six to eight seconds of the shot clock.”
Charlie Sims, senior varsity basketball player, touched on the new clock regulations.
“The way that we’re playing is so much different than the way we previously played,” Sims said.
As the season is ramping up, practices have become more intense. This is crucial for athletes to get conditioned to the high level of endurance and skill needed in a real game.
“We don’t walk around a lot,” Garrison said.
The athletes have faith in their new coach and his abilities to lead them through the season. One aspect Garrison and his assistant coaches want to instill in their players at practice is communication and self confidence. On the court it is crucial to make sure that everyone is on the same page to play at their full potential.
“They preach to make sure that we are talking and going 100% all of the time,” Sims said.
Along with faith in the head coach is also self-confidence in the players.
Latham Binkley, another senior varsity basketball player, said his personal goals were to “make it to JSU (where the state tournament is held) and the final four.”
“(The individual players) haven’t played together as much…so bonding and figuring out team chemistry is getting better as the year goes on,” Binkley said.
This year is very important to these senior athletes as both have committed to play in college with Sims heading to Lycoming College in Pennsylvania and Binkley to Trevecca Nazarene University in Nashville, Tenn.
Although he has been involved with basketball his entire life, Garrison is committed to adjusting his perspective to adapt to his new head coaching position.
“We are lifetime learners,” he commented. “I try to stay up to date on what’s new in the basketball world.”
