A Season of Change

The New Roads Girls Basketball Team has gone through significant changes this season as they reflect on previous years. 

Throughout the years, New Roads’ Girls Basketball team has undergone many different changes including both players and coaches, which, as their players have learned this past season, affects the team in more ways than one might think.

Lots of players were injured during the season and many considered quitting due to minor conflicts with the coach. Not to mention, two players left, and three, having left for a short period of time, returned, while five out of the team’s nine members had never played basketball prior to joining the team. And yet, despite these setbacks, New Roads’ Girls Basketball team won more than double the games compared to last season. 

“Sometimes there were moments where I had to contemplate my will to play,” says senior and Team Captain Alex Brookes, who has been playing basketball for New Roads since elementary school. 

Regardless of the many changes the team underwent, the girls demonstrated their athletic ability by winning multiple games this season, in comparison to their record of winning just two games last year. Many of the girls agreed that they enjoyed playing the sport and had fun “messing around” with their teammates, believing that their positive attitudes and ability to work together influenced their on-court performance.

“I’ve participated in Santa Monica softball and it’s not as united as New Roads basketball, and I have more friends on the girls basketball team,” says Sophomore Rio Rosenstock, who has been playing basketball at New Roads since the fourth grade. 

However, according to Jendayi Kwa Jitahidi, an incoming freshman who is new to the team, “There was not that much organization when it came to games and we played teams that weren’t in the same league as us, and we never [developed any] team bonding.”

Rosenstock and Guadalupe Soriano, another sophomore on the team, along with freshman Abigail Jonathan, have expressed their appreciation for their coach Eugune Jones, who has been coaching the girls team since the beginning of this school year. Soriano and Rosenstock find his coaching skills effective, saying that he is good at teaching them how to “run the game” by explaining the plays thoroughly. However, Rosenstock mentioned that she felt as if there could’ve been improvement in his mentorship towards the team. 

For most of the season, there were issues with the coach, but they were soon resolved once addressed. When members of the New Roads Girls Basketball brought concerns to NRS Athletics Director Richard Jenkins, there were meetings set up to induce a positive change in the program. Approximately two weeks before the season ended, measures were taken to best support the team, such as rescheduling certain practices so those who were injured could rest, getting more players involved on the court, and a considerably more  positive attitude from the coach. These improvements resulted in some of the girls rethinking their decision about quitting. 

Sophomore Guadalupe Soriano steals the ball! (Photo Courtesy of New Roads Sports Media)

“Our coach seemed to be more positive and patient with everyone, and everyone seemed to find the games more enjoyable,” Soriano said. 

Some have expressed their hesitation to come back to the sport in the new season; however, all of the players agree that the 2023-2024 New Roads Girls Basketball season was an enjoyable journey for the Jags.