By TYLER HENRY
Salina Post contributor
The Solomon girls basketball team will be in search of a bounce-back season after finishing the 2020-21 season just 5-15.
The program will be under the direction of a new head coach as Bill Scheef takes over for his first season at the helm.
The Gorillas will be incredibly young this season with a roster of fourteen players, twelve of whom are freshmen.
We had a chance to talk to Coach Scheef ahead of the new season to get his thoughts on his team in his first year leading Solomon.
Q: What would you like to add to the culture of Solomon basketball?
A: "I want our team to understand that it's never about "me" and how much I get to play or how many points I score. The culture has to be centered around hard work, dedication, accountability, and team play. Developing fundamentals and creating a disciplined culture all take time. We tell the girls: ‘Discipline is knowing there’s something you know you should do, but, you don’t want to, but can you make yourself do it and have a positive attitude doing it.’ Before we teach them plays, we have to spend time teaching the game, and that takes time and discipline to stay with the process, just as in life.”
Q: How excited are you guys to get back to a relatively normal after a chaotic 2020
A: “I didn't coach in 2020, but getting back any sort of normal is good for the players, coaches and their supporters.”
Q: What would you say is the biggest strength of this team coming into the new year?
A: “Our biggest strength is in our overall team numbers which right now stand at 14. But with that being said 12 or those 14 are freshmen.”
Q: “What are the biggest question marks you still have about this team going into the first few games?
A: “Gaining positive experience. When you are as young as we are and you are looking at the possibility of starting 3 freshmen, the roll of the dice is what type of "meaningful" experience do they get? If their experience is positive and you can see individual growth then the experience is good. However, we're having to play some kids who are going to be competing against veterans and seasoned coaches and that could be experience of a different type.”
Q: What are the expectations you have for this team that season this season?
A: “Years ago I really got hung up on wins and losses. I was driven by the fact that winning seasons defined me as a coach, but I didn’t do as good a job of focusing on developing the student-athlete and not just the basketball player. We want to focus on discipline, accountability, teamwork, and communication. We want to use basketball as the vehicle to teach them, and if at the end of the season our girls are better, people, daughters, students, members of their communities, then we’ve been successful no matter the record.”
Solomon will tip-off their 2021-22 campaign at Burrton on Friday, December 3rd.
For more on both Gorillas basketball teams stay tuned to the Salina Post.