Basketball season is finally upon us, and the Vikings not only have new talent but a brand new coaching staff, and I’m pretty certain we’re all curious as to how the season will go. 

“I think the season is going to be a great one!” Varsity head coach Jamere Dismukes (J.D.) states.

Dismukes is the new varsity head coach who previously coached at Hyde Park Academy. However, he’s not letting a new school change his coaching strategy. 

 Dismukes is excited to be a new addition to the Vikings. 

“I love coaching these guys,” Dismukes stated. ”They are buying into our [program] and what we are trying to accomplish with no pushback. It’s fun to see.” 

The players seem to love Dismukes ,and the other new coaching staff as much as he loves them. 

 “We love the new coach and he believes in us, and with J.D. as our new

coach, it opens new opportunities for us.” Senior Kamrin Vincent (Forward) stated.

For some players, it was a new adjustment for them to get used to a new head coach. 

Varsity team player Vincent Davis (Forward) said “At first I was hesitant because I knew it would be a big change, and someone new to get used to, but he’s absolutely a great coach.”

Dismukes says his goals for his team this season is to “Play fast and physically impose our will on other teams. We want to play pressure defense and pressure offense the entire game.“

The Vikings have already started off the season with a great start, with a win against Victor Andrew Highschool on 12/2 with the winning score of 67-64. Junior Carson Brownfield (Guard) led the team with 23 points, 7 rebounds, and 7 assists. 

Despite their previous skrimage, where they went up against Marion Catholic, the Vikings seem pretty confident about their performance. 

Davis exclaimed “I think we’re going to win Conference, and we’re going to go deep into the playoffs.” He also said “We I don’t think we have any big competitors to go against, no other school is better than us.”

The varsity team has been preparing for this upcoming season for a while, and in many different ways. 

Vincent explained that “The new coaches have prepared us with a lot of conditioning and skill work.”

The new Viking coaches have also made it known to the Vikings that education is very important, and will be taken very seriously this season. 

Dismukes stated that “Academics come first for me and our players understand that. They are STUDENT-athletes. Which means we put academics on a pedestal, because that is what will truly carry them through the rest of their lives. No matter what you do, who you are, the basketball will stop bouncing for everybody some day.”

Davis also said “The new coaches prepared us to have good team chemistry, to win, and prepared us to go to college.”

As we can see the Vikings are truly going to be prepared for on the court, and outside of it also. 

The Vikings look like they have a successful upcoming season ahead of them! With a new Varsity head coach, the team is bound to win many games that are coming up, in just a short amount of time.