The Future Warriors Girls Basketball program has begun in Sterling, Illinois, for grades fourth through eighth. The goal is to help engage the youth in physical activity and teamwork. The program was initiated by S.H.S. girls basketball varsity head coach Taylor Jackson to help provide an additional opportunity for young girls to play basketball and develop skills at a young age.
The program was started to provide opportunities for girls to continue to grow and provide them with confidence in basketball.
Jackson shared, “We have been working to start this program for years and we know it is important for players to start their development at a young age.”
In addition to skill development, the program focuses on developing sportsmanship, discipline, and teamwork skills. The young girls have a chance to display what they have learned at practices every other Sunday. The practices go for an hour and a half in the S.H.S. gymnasium, where the girls separate into their team and work on the basic skills.
Oftentimes parents can go into the practices and see the high school girls working with the different age groups. The high school players help demonstrate some of the drills and help the girls get a visualization on what they will be doing. Having the high school team there to help is very important to the kids seeing that they are not only there to demonstrate, but they also play a leadership role.
Sophomore Joslyn Green stated, “I love that Coach Jackson started a Future Warriors program, it’s good to get girls basketball out there and started early.” At first it was rocky trying to figure out how much of the sport each girl knew, but within no time the coaches could see each girl slowly advancing and excelling.
Starting this program allows kids to understand the game of basketball earlier, so that when they enter their first middle school season, they have a good understanding of what’s going on.
With this being the first year of the program there will be many ups and downs, but there’s no doubt that the girls and coaches are so excited to develop all these new skills.
