After a disappointing 2022-23 season for the boys freshman basketball team, the new boys freshman basketball head coach Antoine Draper and his team will hopefully turn things around.

In the 2022-23 season for the freshman team, they went 4-16. This year, the FHC basketball program decided to bring Draper onto staff. He joined the FHC basketball program for two main reasons.

“I joined FHC because of my love for coaching basketball,” Draper said. “Also, the coaching staff felt like a perfect fit for me.”

The head coach of the boys varsity basketball team, Jordan George, wanted one main thing when choosing a new head coach for the freshman basketball team: energy.

“The first thing that stood out to me about Coach Draper was his energy,” George said. “We wanted a freshman coach who is very energetic, excited, and will bring quite a bit of excitement to the group. My first time meeting him, his energy and enthusiasm and the fact that he is an extrovert was one of the things that made him an attractive hire.”

Draper has some strengths that he can bring to the table in order to help out the team this year.

“My passion for the game,” Draper said. “Skill development and ability to motivate and build self-confidence in players.”

George also commented on one thing that Draper is good at: his ability to hook players on the sport and the team.

“One of the goals of the freshman team is to get guys hooked on the program and hooked on basketball,” George said. “Coach Draper is a great guy to increase their excitement level about hoops.”

Freshman basketball player Jacob Witham has noticed a strength within the team, and that is its defense.

“I think we play really good defense,” Witham said. “We’re going to need a little bit of work on our offense, but our defense is good.”

Draper also thinks that one of the team’s strengths is defensive communication, which is an important part of playing defense.

“The strengths are that this year’s team is that we are connected,” Draper said. “We hold each other accountable, we have great defensive communication, and we have toughness.”

This season, Draper says that there are going to be a few things that the team needs to do that will make this year successful this year.

“Belief and confidence as individual players and as a team will be very important,” Draper said. “[And] playing together on the defensive end and buying into our role.”

Good chemistry with teammates is vital to becoming a good basketball team. Freshman player Marwan Abbas is excited to build chemistry with his teammates.

“I’m most excited about being with my teammates and getting to know them better,” Abbas said.

The team’s goals are deeper than just winning lots of games this year. Although winning is important, it isn’t the most important thing for this year’s team.

“The big goal for this year is to develop a love and understanding for the game of basketball, ” Draper said. “Also, to be competitive in every game this season and to develop friendships and bonds with everyone on the team.”