Coach Strong’s Outlook for the SMC Women’s Basketball team 2011 2012 Season
“The past few seasons have brought much success to the Santa Monica College Women’s Basketball Program. We won our first Western State Conference Championship, had a number of All Conference Selections and most importantly, placed a number of players into 4-year colleges! Needless to say, everyone associated with the basketball program is very proud of what our players have accomplished.”
The success of the 2011 – 12 team will of course depend on the overall work ethic and attitude of each player. We have always worked to attract and recruit quality student -athletes who have talent, work extremely hard, make no excuses, and always maintain a positive & competitive attitude. It is our hope that this year’s team will continue our tradition of success by adhering to guidelines we have set for them.
We again feel fortunate to have recruited the best available freshmen that fit our style of play. Of the ten freshmen we have on our roster, many of them come from successful programs. They understand what it takes to be successful, because they’ve done it throughout their high school years. We know they will give their best effort every game and we hope they can exceed what they feel their limits might be.
We have also made changes in our coaching staff. Karlia Batalla has been promoted to lead assistant while DIka Firmansyah will take an expanded role on the staff as well. I am also very excited to announce that Assistant Coach Ivano Newbill has been a welcome addition. Coach Newbill played several seasons in the NBA and in professionally in Europe. Newby has a very high basketball I.Q and we have all learned from expertise and knowledge. We have had amazing practices as a result of his input which have been fun for both myself and the players to be a part of. He teaches all of us daily skills, drills and concepts that are extremely valuable. You will see him on the recruiting trails this season as we look to once again get out and watch your teams play this season as well.
This season we play in several tournaments that will hopefully give us an opportunity to improve quickly. We look to improve on the past two seasons where we finished second in the Western State Conference. Our four returning players earned valuable playing time last season on a team that finished with an overall record of 17-10. Hopefully, they come in realizing last years success is in the past. It’s now their time to lead as sophomores and help the incoming freshmen to understand what it takes to have another successful season. Our sophomores certainly have the ability to help us win and we look to them to do that.
As usual we will press as much as possible!! Our style of play will again be at a frantic pace. The idea behind our style of play is to wear down our opponents by playing 10 – 12 players throughout the game. It doesn’t mean everyone plays an equal amount of playing time, it just means we always have fresh players in the game applying as much pressure as possible toward our opponent. Our players love our style of play because of the freedom they have to use their athletic ability. But, they also know they have to give their best efforts in order for our style of play to be successful.
I think you’ll enjoy watching this year’s team compete. We practice daily from noon – 2:30 p.m. and you’re more than welcome to come by to watch. I look forward to seeing you at the games!
Lydia Strong—Head Women’s Basketball Coach Santa Monica College