Time To Make Some Noise On The Court

With basketball season just around the corner, the boy’s basketball team is expecting “a good season” according to head coach Drew Danielson.

“I like the game of basketball. [I] love the Friday nights with the school, being able to get the school involved in the community,” Danielson said. “And then I also enjoy seeing the growth and maturity process of kids.” 

A coach is a person who is coaching a sport, involved in the direction instruction, and training of the sports team or athlete. Coach Danielson coached for 1 year at Elkorn High School as an Assistant Coach, 4 years at Cozad High School as Head Coach, and this year is his 4th year at Hastings High School as Head Coach.

“So I played college basketball at Hastings [College] and then got injured and so only played two years. And so after that, I still wanted to be involved with basketball so I decided to go to coaching,” Danielson said.

Last year, the boy’s basketball team ended their season with a record of 9-12. This year, the team is planning on preparing a little bit differently.

“Well, this year, we have a shot clock, so that’ll be new. So we’ll have to definitely practice that,” Danielson said. “And then our first year in a new conference, so that’ll be a little bit different and then our schedule has kind of changed a little bit too. So those three big things are going to be different this year.”

Along with having a new addition to the shot clock, the National Federation of State High School Associations made a rule change to the game of basketball.

“Fouls: No more 1-1 free throws; Bonus will always be 2 shots and the bonus begins at 5 team fouls. Team fouls- Reset each quarter; Scoreboard will show a max of 5 fouls per quarter,” the NFHS said.  

The new Eastern Midland Conference is the conference that Hastings Senior High School is now a part of because the Greater Nebraska Athletic Conference, HHS’s old conference, no longer exists. EMC is a high school athletic conference of suburban and suburban-small-town high schools on the eastern side of Nebraska.

“I think the biggest part would be just dedication to the sport,” Danielson said. “That’s something we talk a lot about and as you know, our players have to be self-motivated, come in and shoot shots on their own. But I think also just being able to handle outside noise. You know, being a high school kid and all that stuff.” 

Basketball takes a team, whether it’s new players or old players, and it also takes time and practice. 

“Well, we have a bunch of returning starters. So they have a lot of experience coming back. So, I think depending on how our upperclassmen and our leaders do, I expect a good season,” Danielson said. 

Coaches aren’t just coaches, they are mentors, role models, and they can impact their athletes by the decisions and actions they put forth. Encouraging good sportsmanship, maintaining a safe sporting environment, conducting practices, and preparing for competition are some of the ways coaches impact their teams.
“Philosophy of coaching is always about player relationships. If your players trust you, they will compete for you,” Danielson said.