Trojan Hoops, the Future of Basketball At Jenks
By: Ellie Freeman
Commitment, dedication, and passion, landed two juniors their own basketball team. Reese Watson and Cameron Anderson started coaching their fifth grade team via Trojan Hoops, a program that forms teams and lets them compete with each other.
Watson and Anderson giving directions
“It's just a great program that gets kids learning the sport early, coached by volunteers, and then games are held on weekends.” says Lisa Sims, Anderson’s mother and coach of her own Trojan Hoops team.
Trojan Hoops is run by Jenks Community Education, and the Indian Nations Basketball Conference has different teams for each district. This is a great way to facilitate interest in the sport while developing the skills necessary to compete, and it’s how Watson got involved.
“I played in Trojan hoops when I was from first to sixth grade, So I've always been connected in it and I've always been surrounded by it and just always known about it,” says Watson.
Anderson also played basketball as a kid.
“I've been playing since I was in third grade, and I love basketball. I love playing it. My sister, and all my siblings, plays basketball, and I just wanted to get more involved,” says Anderson.
Coaching is a huge commitment. You have to be incredibly responsible, and you lose a significant portion of your down time. Working with kids so young can be challenging, so you have to be willing to give it your all.
“Coaching entails time and energy and patience,” says Watson, “You're planning practices, you're going there, you're working with the kids, you're spending your Saturdays going to games and helping and cheering them on,”
Having little experience is also a road bump. There's lots of experimentation and adjustments that need to be made, and figuring out what works and what doesn't takes time.
“Coaching is a lot of trial and error, and if something doesn't work, we adapt and go about it a different way,” says Sims.
Despite these challenges, both Anderson and Watson have done an incredible job. They’ve collaborated to make the experience truly special for the kids involved.
Anderson standing next to one of the players
“Words fall short to express how proud I am of them, taking that on and not just volunteering to do it, but it's quality coaching. It's intelligent thinking with what these girls need to do, where their goals are for the team, and just the responsibility that they have taken on their plate” says Sims.
The motivation for coaching is inspired by their love for basketball and the importance of the impact Watson and Anderson are making on the kids.
“It's definitely more rewarding because you're kind of connected to them in a certain way.” says Watson. “It's really cool to get to see them grow, because it feels like, hey, I'm doing something that's pretty cool.”
Watson standing with the team
The most important thing to the success of Trojan Hoops is community support. Supporting these teams while they’re young is important because they’re the future of basketball at Jenks.
“And that's the same with our sports at Jenks, like female driven sports , like varsity sports.” says Watson. “We don't have enough support sometimes. So you supporting them is like supporting us because it's all kind of interconnected because they’re going to be the future of our program.”
The team playing against each other
The most prominent benefit of Trojan Hoops is the impression it leaves on the kids involved. Having great role models like Anderson, Watson, and Sims is going to motivate the players to improve as players and as people.
Alexa Anderson is Anderson’s little sister, and she’s on the team coached by Watson and Anderson. When asked what she thinks about having her big sister as her coach, she had this to say: “It’s awesome. She’s the best coach and my all time favorite.”