The girls’ varsity basketball team recently introduced two coaches to their program, head coach Tom Brown and assistant coach Paul Gee.
Brown has been coaching for 16 years, and Gee has been coaching for 17 years with both boys and girls programs. Brown coached two state finalist teams while Gee had a run at Deep Run from 2010 to 2016 as the boys JV basketball head coach and varsity assistant coach.
When previous head coach Tom Rawlyk retired after 22 years last season, Brown and Gee saw the opportunity to grow a successful team.
“It was mainly the commitment of the players and parents to working hard and having success,” Brown said. “And if you look at Deep Run, there has been a lot of success across the board with a lot of different sports.”
Along with new initiative, the coaches have brought new standards to the team. They are working to install a strong work ethic, showing up to practice, and playing with discipline into each player’s potential.
“When I see a player not focused on what she’s trying to do versus the player who just gets beat physically, you can’t control the player getting beat. You do your best,” Gee said. “But when we see players that aren’t focused, forgetting, or just not there, you have to shake them out of it.”
According to Brown, the minimum expectation is “for all players to execute,” a standard that is “non-negotiable.”
“We want to teach the players how to compete,” Brown said. “They’re either competing against themselves, or they’re competing against the standard.”
Senior Holli Hopkins believes the new coaching staff keeps the players active and engaged. This coaching technique has allowed the six seniors on the team, including Hopkins, to give it their all for their last season and develop leadership qualities to further push their teammates.
“This is our last year, and we’re not going to get another chance at this,” Hopkins said. “We need to hit the ground running, especially since we don’t want our last year here to be a losing season.”
The team is currently 5-8. They fell to Highland Springs (5-2), Hanover (9-1), Cosby(7-2), Tucker (6-1), Glen Allen (8-1), Thomas Dale (11-0), and Godwin (11-2) high school.
Through difficult losses, Hopkins and the team take it as an opportunity to increase team chemistry and bonding.
“We all have natural instincts of knowing how the others play and what they are going to do, their strengths, and their weaknesses,” Hopkins said. “Truly on and off the court, we are a really strongly connected group of girls.”
After five losses, the team earned an impressive win against John Marshall 38-35, ending with a game winning three pointer by sophomore guard Kate Hopkins.
“When we pulled off that upset, the girls made the next step. They were already in position and closed it out,” Brown said.
The team later handily defeated Hermitage by 40 points on Jan. 13 and followed that with a 42-27 win against Freeman.
The girls’ varsity basketball team will compete next against Tucker at home on Friday, Jan. 23.
