Hayes returns to coach at Crossroads Christian
Former player rebuilding team she once starred on
BY LOGAN ULRICH
SPORTS EDITOR HENDERSON DAILY DISPATCH
There’s a lot that Jessi Hayes didn’t expect in her first season coaching at Crossroads Christian.
Just a year ago, Hayes was just starting her final year of college basketball at Meredith College, where she would end her career as the Avenging Angels sixth-best all-time scorer with 1163 points.
Now, she’s back to try and rebuild the girls basketball team she once starred on. Hayes knew she would have to start at a more basic level than the one she played at in college, but discovered quickly her players needed to be taught even some of the fundamentals to fundamentals.
For instance, Hayes shot the ball nearly 1100 times in her career. Early on in the season, the Colts struggled to shoot it even ten times in a game.
At the level Hayes has played at for much of her life, it was often her or other teammates who were taking charge on the court. With how much Crossroads Christian still has to learn, Hayes has found herself taking a more hands-on role, like calling a timeout midway through the first half in their game against Vance Charter on Friday to explain how to break a press defense.
“I did not expect to talk that much,” she said. “But with these girls, if you don’t talk, they’re lost.”
But even with the bar set so low, Hayes has been impressed with how quickly her players have improved. The Colts opened the season with four games in a five-day stretch, and while they entered the weekend 0-4, they also entered the weekend fresh off a season-high in scoring in a 67-36 loss to Vance Charter.
“We’re leaps and bounds from where we even were Monday,” Hayes said.
It’s been an adjustment for Hayes coming from the ultra-competitive nature of college basketball, where she ate, slept and breathed the sport, back to high school where some of her players will drop a basketball at the end of the season and not pick it back up until next year. But she seems to be finding that happy medium between motivation and keeping her players’ confidence intact.
“A lot of the thing is fundamentals, yes, but also getting their confidence up and believing they can actually do it,” Hayes said. “Because I see it and it’s just they don’t.”
More and more of her players are starting to see what they’re capable of, though. The offense has started to develop as more players learn how to dribble instead of just dumping the ball off to the point guard. While the team needs to learn how to box out to avoid its lack of size being consistently exposed, Hayes likes what she sees from the rest of the defense.
Who knows where she and the team could be a year from now?
Former player rebuilding team she once starred on
BY LOGAN ULRICH
SPORTS EDITOR HENDERSON DAILY DISPATCH
There’s a lot that Jessi Hayes didn’t expect in her first season coaching at Crossroads Christian.
Just a year ago, Hayes was just starting her final year of college basketball at Meredith College, where she would end her career as the Avenging Angels sixth-best all-time scorer with 1163 points.
Now, she’s back to try and rebuild the girls basketball team she once starred on. Hayes knew she would have to start at a more basic level than the one she played at in college, but discovered quickly her players needed to be taught even some of the fundamentals to fundamentals.
For instance, Hayes shot the ball nearly 1100 times in her career. Early on in the season, the Colts struggled to shoot it even ten times in a game.
At the level Hayes has played at for much of her life, it was often her or other teammates who were taking charge on the court. With how much Crossroads Christian still has to learn, Hayes has found herself taking a more hands-on role, like calling a timeout midway through the first half in their game against Vance Charter on Friday to explain how to break a press defense.
“I did not expect to talk that much,” she said. “But with these girls, if you don’t talk, they’re lost.”
But even with the bar set so low, Hayes has been impressed with how quickly her players have improved. The Colts opened the season with four games in a five-day stretch, and while they entered the weekend 0-4, they also entered the weekend fresh off a season-high in scoring in a 67-36 loss to Vance Charter.
“We’re leaps and bounds from where we even were Monday,” Hayes said.
It’s been an adjustment for Hayes coming from the ultra-competitive nature of college basketball, where she ate, slept and breathed the sport, back to high school where some of her players will drop a basketball at the end of the season and not pick it back up until next year. But she seems to be finding that happy medium between motivation and keeping her players’ confidence intact.
“A lot of the thing is fundamentals, yes, but also getting their confidence up and believing they can actually do it,” Hayes said. “Because I see it and it’s just they don’t.”
More and more of her players are starting to see what they’re capable of, though. The offense has started to develop as more players learn how to dribble instead of just dumping the ball off to the point guard. While the team needs to learn how to box out to avoid its lack of size being consistently exposed, Hayes likes what she sees from the rest of the defense.
Who knows where she and the team could be a year from now?
