Theotine "Theo" Ulysse Dardar
June 23, 2009
Diana Benoit Toms
June 25, 2009
The high school basketball season saw its final game played over three months ago, but last week marked the beginning of a new season for the Vandebilt Terriers, Morgan City Tigers, South Lafourche Tarpons, E.D. White Cardinals and Houma Christian Warriors.
For the sixth year, E.D. White Catholic High School brought back its summer league, pitting participants against each other in a round-robin format.
The league resumes tomorrow with Houma Christian against South Lafourche at 6 p.m. and host E.D. White against Vandebilt following at 7 p.m.
League play wraps up next Wednesday
It’s a chance for some coaches to give their young players game experience or, as in E.D. White’s case, a chance to try different things offensively and defensively with their experienced team members.
“We have a veteran ball club this year, so we are going to experiment with different lineups and schemes and hopefully get a better idea of what is going to be successful for us in the fall,” E.D. White head coach Jonathan Keife said. “Now you have to be ready for the first (regular season) game because of power points, so it’s a little bit different now.”
Of Keife’s 18 returning players from last season, eight are seniors. All agreed that playing in the summer league has helped them grow as a team and improve their games as individuals.
“It keeps a basketball in your hands,” senior Jacob Daigle said. “It’s easy to come out here with a teammate instead of doing it by yourself. It kind of pushes yourself or players like me that don’t have much varsity experience. It helps you get a feel for the team.”
His teammate, Cody Bourgeois, said it takes some of the pressure off during the season because they’re playing against other teams rather than just themselves at practice.
“I feel like it helps individuals get better and you get to see who can handle everything in the fall,” the senior said. “It also helps the team come together and see which ones can or can’t play with each other on the court when the regular season comes around.”
Keife said he planned to use the summer league this year as a chance to really prepare his team for the grind of the regular season.
After participating in Morgan City’s summer league for his first three seasons as coach, he decided to keep it going in Thibodaux.
The coach says the response to the league in the six years of its existence has been remarkable. Now there are five teams on a waiting list for teams wanting to get in.
“The results are like night and day,” he said. “We started it here and it’s been so beneficial to us, and the other schools feel the same way. All the coaches in the area are realizing just how beneficial and how necessary it is.”
Senior Josh Jennings said he has noticed a big difference in his play by the time the regular season starts.
He explained that by playing summer league, each player’s individual skills have improved.
“It gives us more reps to run our sets, run our plays and makes us closer as a team so when we get closer to the regular season, we are prepared,” he said. “We have big team camps during the summer where we play three or four games a day. We get closer, we get better, we become a better team. It shows on the court.”
However, the summer league was almost in jeopardy of not taking place this year had it not been for another area school stepping up.
Since the Cardinals’ new gymnasium is yet to be completed and the old gymnasium is still going through renovations after storm flooding, all games this year are being played at nearby Thibodaux High School with the Cardinals using Nicholls’ Stopher Gym for practices.
“Between them and Nicholls, they have just been so good to us throughout this whole ordeal,” said Keife. “Once again, they were able to accommodate us in the summer so we could continue. Just can’t say enough about the people involved, the athletic administrators as well as the school administrators for allowing us to continue.”
E.D. White’s Josh Jennings drives to the basket between Vandebilt defenders during summer league basketball play. It is in this offseason play that E.D. White head coach Jonathan Keife said he is able to get an early glimpse of his team long before the season starts. * Photo by KYLE CARRIER
