By Jim Workman
Being a first-year head coach, Rory Chapman is learning a lot about what it takes to be the man in charge of a high school basketball program.
On the court it’s been great, as Wyoming East is 13-1 and ranked No. 1 in Class AA.
But the off-the-court issues like dealing with snowstorms and rescheduling games, that’s another story.
“It’s very time-consuming,” Chapman admitted. “I do get a lot of help from my assistants. But being the head coach is totally different for me. It’s a new role. I’m dealing with a lot of things that I never dreamed about and trying to reschedule these games and rescheduling officials. It’s definitely a concern.”
Winter storms have wrecked many game and practice plans for many teams across the region.
With the postseason quickly approaching, administrators and coaches will have to weigh whether rescheduling is not only feasible but beneficial.
“We want to play every postponed game that we can,” Chapman said. “But you also don’t want to pile them all up on the last week of the regular season. You can’t play four or five games heading into the sectionals. We’re scheduled up that last week. We don’t have a lot of dates to play with. You can’t afford to stack everything up on the end.
“Our sectionals begin on the 27th, and we already have games at Oak Hill (Feb. 19), with Bluefield at Concord University (Feb. 23) and at home against Scott (Feb. 25). Our schedule has been tough all season, but that last stretch is extremely tough.”
Preparing the players mentally and physically day to day has also been a challenge, Chapman admitted.
“The kids like to play games,” he said. “The uncertainty is hard on everyone. We have been taking a lot of time scrimmaging lately, and we normally wouldn’t do that in the season. We let them run up and down.
“On days that you’re supposed to play, it’s harder to get them ready.”
— E-mail:
jworkman@register-herald.com
