Grammar ready for GPS after tough pre-season

BASKETBALL: Kabe Cicolini has a wealth of coaching experience across many levels of basketball.

The First V Toowoomba Grammar coach was given a fresh task in the lead-up to this year’s GPS season with the pandemic limiting face-to-face contact.

It’s been tough, but he said the group has stayed motivated through the online sessions, making it through to full contact training and their first round fixture this afternoon.

“It was a pretty odd pre-season and not the normal thing for us,” he said.

“The boys did a good job of staying engaged with skill development and their strength and conditioning online.

“With restrictions lifted it’s been good to get them back on court, and they’re excited to get back on the court and compete.

“We’ve been back on court for about a month. Restrictions lifted during holidays while we were in the middle of one of our camps.

“We were able to adjust some of our scheduling to get them on court. Preparation has been limited which is less than ideal, we’ve only had the one scrimmage against the second Mountaineers QSL group, but we’ve made the most of it.”

While their opportunities on court have been limited, Cicolini is hoping a strong Grammar culture will make up for any rust.

“We’ve relied on some of the foundations we’ve built before,” he said.

“We’ve focused on instilling a culture, system, framework and style of play that all Grammar basketballers can identify with.

“It means we don’t have to reinvent the wheel every year. There’s a good buy in from our players, and it makes the transitions from non-contact to contact much easier, and allows us to hit the ground running.”

Grammar has been able to maintain a strong core group from last year’s campaign, and Cicolini said the group has a firm goal in their sights.

“We graduated four of our players from our squad of 15 last year, and with 10 or 11 returning players, it makes for good continuity,” he said.

“The big expectation is that we have a winning season. 4-4 was the goal last year, and we finished 3-5 which we were disappointed with.

“At CBSQ (Champion Basketball School of Queensland tournament) we wanted to do the same and finished 5-2.

TGS starts its GPS campaign today at home against Brisbane Grammar School.