The Lady Woodman’s new coach wants to spark opportunity and excitement in the community and the basketball players.

“I think this year’s season is going to go a lot better with the new coach. She is very positive and pushes us to do better. It opens up new opportunities for the team like learning new plays and new ways to communicate to each other,” junior Lillian Ebeyer guard said. 

Not only does Ebeyer think this year is going to go better, so does the new coach.

“I really do think this year is going to go well. I’m trying to change the culture of the team and have a good impact on these girls. My philosophy is act right, do right , be right,” coach Fiona Said.

 She has a lot of history playing and coaching basketball.

“I played basketball at Lexington Catholic High School in Kentucky. I played professionally in Iceland ,I coached Koker College. I was the D2 coach there for  five years. The last place I coached at was in North Carolina,” she said.

  Senior Courtney Hankhoff  described practices.

“We have a lot of conditioning and running, and they definitely will be a lot harder than the games are going to be. The practices help us build our team bonding. She is a very positive person,”  she said.

Though there are good aspects to getting a new coach, there can be negatives, too.

“My favorite part about getting a new coach is how many new opportunities there are for growth since we will have someone new. My least favorite part about getting a new coach is losing old bonds and being used to the routine. A lot of people do not like change,” sophomore Paige Gylnn point guard said.

Ebeyer agreed.

“My favorite thing is that something new is happening and it is not just the same thing like last year so we try new things. My least favorite thing is the chance of losing the bond I had. It will be hard for this change because I was really close with Bennett and I’m losing a bond that I had with him since he is not coaching this year. I will miss him but I’m ready for the change,” Ebeyer said. 

The girls first basketball game was  Nov. 2 at Greenfield Central.