Lady Wildcats round out coaching staff.
In her first year as El Dorado girls basketball head coach, Destinee Rogers guided the Lady Wildcats to the 6A state semifinals. Her first full off-season has been hectic, on and off the court. Rogers recently put the finishing touches on her coaching staff, adding Strong native John Koonce as head ninth grade coach and varsity assistant and El Dorado native Kanedria Andrews, who will coach eighth grade and assist the varsity.
Sarah Keiffers returns as the seventh grade coach and Katie Lampo will assist at the junior high and varsity level. Lampo comes from Fountain Lake.
Koonce was an assistant under Leslie Byrd at Watson Chapel. Andrews, who is a firsttime coach, played at Louisiana Tech under Teresa Weatherspoon and Tyler Summitt, after helping the Lady Wildcats win a state title.
"I am super, super excited about who we've hired. When I was thinking about who I wanted to hire. I wanted to hire people who had been apart of championships," said Rogers. "John is coming from Watson Chapel, who just won back-to-back state championships. Also, Kanedria being apart of the 2011 state championship team here at El Dorado, I thought it was important to have a legend come back and work with these kids. They all look up to her. I really wanted people who know how to win championships, have been there and done
that. They're going to be able to apply it to these kids. They've been at practices and they're tough on them, like I am. They push them. It's been great, so far. I am extremely excited about what I think we're going to be able to do together."
Andrews, in particular, played a starring role in El Dorado's championship season. Rogers said she's excited to have the former Lady Wildcat back in the program.
"When I heard that she was interested, I jumped right on it. I told her, we want somebody that's been apart of the program. It's a bonus for us that she's apart of the state championship team," said Rogers. "When she walked into the gym, all the kids knew who she was. When she speaks to them, they soak everything in that she says. I think it's great, not only for the team but the community to have somebody that was so successful here at El Dorado to step back into a coaching position in her hometown and be able to give back to these kids."
The coach said teaching the girls how to play basketball the correct way will be the task for the seventh and eighth grade coaches.
"Their main goal is to teach them the basic fundamentals and instill that hard work in them - holding them accountable for their actions," she said. "If they're not working hard, they hold them accountable. If they're not doing right in the classroom, hold them accountable. Get them ready for me is the main goal. We want to win every single game. But, the main thing is they're getting those basic fundamentals and they're learning the game. That's our concern."
On the court, the Lady Wildcats have had a busy summer, competing in team camps at Beebe, Little Rock Christian and Lake Hamilton. They also went to a playday at Southwood with former El Dorado coach Stephen Harshaw.
"I'm not exactly sure of what the record is this summer. But, we're getting better. We're probably about .500 or so," said Rogers. "The kids are playing hard. We're making some minor mistakes that can be fixed. We're hanging in there with some of the good teams. We just get to the end and we make those small mistakes. But, it's all fixable. As long as we keep working hard throughout the summer, I think we'll be O.K. The main thing is, we're just playing. We've played close to 20 games this summer. That was my main goal. I don't really care about wins and losses in the summer. I care about getting better."
The Lady Wildcats are hosting their own camp this week. Eight teams, including Harshaw's Southwood squad, will be in action today at Wildcat Arena, beginning at 10 a.m. The Lady Wildcats are scheduled to play today at 10 a.m., 12:30 p.m., 2:10 p.m. and 3 p.m.