PASSIONATE ABOUT WINNING

It is often said that a team takes on the personality of its coach. If the coach pays attention to detail, the team will pay attention to detail. If a coach does the little things to achieve success, the team will do the little things to achieve success. If a coach preaches and displays discipline, the team will follow suit.

For Central Lafourche, it took half a season, but since district play began, the Trojans on-court persona has fully resembled that of first-year head coach Paul Paille.

“When I first got the job,” recalls Paille, “the players had a hard time adjusting to my intense style, and the kind of discipline that I was talking about.”

Most of the players had never experienced the “get at it” attitude of their leader. “Coach Paille’s more serious,” says senior Derek Bell of the coach’s attitude. “He’s more of a ‘go get ’em’ coach. Last year, our coach was more laid back.”

It took a 3-12 start and a team meeting to get the players acclimated to Paille’s demanding nature. “We were playing our worst basketball during the holidays,” explains the coach. “We lost to some teams I didn’t feel like we should have lost to. We weren’t playing near the way we were capable of. But most of it was attitude.”

From there, Paille held a meeting with the team’s seniors—a meeting that he says has helped turn things around.

It is tough to argue with the results. Since that meeting, the Trojans have won seven of their past nine games and are currently 6-1 in District 6-5A play. “When we sat down (in the meeting), I told them that I moved here, I don’t know anybody around here, and the only reason I’m here is for basketball and y’all,” says Paille. “Everything I do is for y’all. They felt my emotion. That’s when they knew that I cared about them, and then they cared about me. We went from there, and it’s been all uphill since.”

Senior Lucas LeBlanc agreed that the meeting was a turning point. “He pretty much got our seniors together and gave us a talk, saying that this is our last year to play basketball,” said LeBlanc. “He asked just to give it our all and be leaders. If we give a good example to the rest of the team, then they’ll follow suit.”

Most impressive is the way the Trojans have accumulated their 6-1 district record. Starting the district season as underdogs, the Trojans have won five road games to start their district slate.

“Going on the road to somebody’s place, with a team that wasn’t supposed to do anything,” says Paille, “you might get lucky and win one or two. But when you win five road games, you’re a good basketball team. You don’t get lucky against these teams five times.”

The most recent road victory may have been the most impressive. At Assumption, the Trojans fell behind 13-0 but battled back to take a 65-56 win. “We just kept our heads in there,” said LeBlanc. “We didn’t give up. We knew we could win. We knew if we worked together we could beat Assumption. Sure enough, slowly but surely we climbed back in the game and ended up winning.”

Bell added, “We didn’t get down. Everybody just kept shooting, and it started falling.”

Paille says that throughout the season he has warned the team that they would have to come from behind in certain games if they wanted to be successful. “Before that (Assumption) game, I even told them I had a feeling it’s going to be tonight. We were down 13-0 and they did exactly what I would need them to do.”

Even with the success, Paille said it is important that the team remain focused. “Nobody believed in us from the start,” he said. “At the beginning of the season we were picked to finish last in the district, and we played the part of Rocky. Nobody thinks we can do it, and now we’re hungry.”

People in the community are taking notice. “We’re getting 800 people in our gym now at home games,” says Paille. “We think we’re going to get to a point where we’re going to sell out the gym. You can feel it in the air. Right now, I would have to say this basketball team is doing a lot to change the spirit of this whole school.”

And Paille would not have it any other way. “I’ve been having a vision my whole life about how a basketball team should be run,” he said. “How it’s not just about our team—it’s about the whole school and the spirit of the school.”

For the Trojans, each game brings that vision closer to fruition. “More passion,” says LeBlanc of how the team is playing. “More of an attitude that we’re going to win. We know we can win, now. I think we had a lot of doubters at the beginning. We’re proving them wrong game by game.”

Staff photo by MATT LeBLANC • Tri-Parish Times * First-year head coach Paul Paille has helped lead Central Lafourche to a 6-2 record in district play. Paille says that once the Trojans became acclimated to his style of coaching, the team has played excellent basketball.