With basketball season only about a month away expectations are high for the women’s varsity program at Vance Charter. “It’s the most excitement we’ve had going into a season in a long time,” says coach Brian Howard. The Knights, who return every player from last year’s team, are looking to this year as an opportunity to make a state championship run. Coach Howard says tryouts have gone well and this year he held summer workouts for his players for the first time. “We had about 80% participation,” Howard said. That meant some players would leave work, come to practice and then return to work. He is very pleased with the maturity level his four returning seniors are showing. “They have shown tremendous growth and are the leaders of the team,” says Coach Howard.
They won’t be relying only on their talented seniors. Last year’s undefeated J-V team was undefeated and many of those players are now freshmen and they will also play a huge role in the success the Knights are hoping for.
Coach Howard says that while some of his players do play multiple sports, they are very, very dedicated to the basketball program at Vance Charter. All of these factors figure into the belief that Vance Charter may indeed make a run at a state championship this season.
The road to that championship begins next month against Franklin Academy. A team who, at this point, Coach Howard knows nothing about. He’s not really too worried about that. “We just have to handle our business,” Howard said to Trey Snide on Thursday’s SportsTalk.