preseason workouts have finally started

Yesterday was day one of preseason workouts. This is the time that most people absolutely dread. Even if you have worked hard all summer, there is something about preseason that still makes your entire body sore. When we as coaches talk about it, we say alot of preseason is mental. Every year, we have a few players that individually have to make their mind up that they are actually going to make it one more step and that they won't die before the workout ends. I was proud of our team as a whole yesterday when they ran the timed mile. We had a few freshmen that were pleasant suprises and a few upperclassmen that cut more than a few seconds off their times from last spring. I was really happy with the majority of our team and I can tell that they have been working hard to get better on and off the court this summer. We continued our workouts this morning at 6:00am on the track and I have to say that we have a pretty fast team. We have a few that look like naturals out on the track and our track coach may be trying to steal a few of them next spring! Coach Edwards ran sprints with the post players this morning and I feel like I should mention that she made her times on every sprint. She definitely gives our post players somebody to look up to and try to keep up with.
We talk alot as a team about this being the time that we win conference championships. Teams don't just step on the floor and win a championship during March Madness. All of the preparation and hard work begins now long before we are allowed to start traditional practice in October. Our team is ready to put in the work now and I have no doubt that they will be ready when our chance comes again to play for a championship in Asheville, NC next March.

Tomorrow is our pool workout for this week. Check back for pictures of that...they should be pretty funny!
JRA

Introducing Coach Simone Edwards

My name is Simone Edwards and I am excited to be apart of the Radford Women's Basketball program. I was born in Jamaica and I attended college in the USA. This is my first season with the Highlanders after playing many years of professional basketball in Europe and the WNBA. I won a championship with the Seattle Storm and then retired in 2006 from the WNBA. I am also co-captain of the Jamaica Women's Basketball Team which will be competing in Chile next month in the Fiba Americas Championship. I am looking forward to being a part Radford's Women's Basketball Team and it's great staff. We look forward to your support throughout the season.

Back To School

It's that time of year again. School officially started yesterday here on the campus of Radford University for the 2007-2008 academic year and we are very excited! A few things have changed since I last wrote: Most importantly, we hired a new assistant coach to work with our post players. Her name is Simone Edwards and I will let her write tomorrow to introduce herself. Coach Edwards played professionally overseas and in the WNBA. We are very excited to add her to our staff and I know our post players will learn alot from her. Second, we added a 5th young lady to our 07-08 freshmen class. Taleia Moton is a 5'4" guard from Suitland High School in Fort Washington, MD. We were thrilled that Taleia wanted to join our family and we can't wait to see her on the court in a Radford uniform.
Now, back to my original thought. School started this week and it is great to finally have all of our players back on campus. Sometimes they may not believe it, but we really do miss them when they go home for the summer. Everybody came back healthy for the most part and they all seem to be very excited about what this season holds for Radford Women's Basketball. Tomorrow, we will have our first team meeting of the year, Thursday the players will get their physicals, and next Monday we will get started with preseason workouts. Oops, I said the "p" word. Preseason workouts are not anybody's favorite part of the year...not even mine! I know our girls think sometimes that I like this stuff but it's not really fun for any of us. We all can't wait until October when we can really practice or November when we start playing. Anyway, Monday is Day One of preseason and I really really really hope all of our girls make their mile times. Hopefully that will be a perfect way to start what we all think could be a very special season.

Go Lady Highs!

JRA