Basketball is many people’s favorite sport. At DHS before the basketball season begins, varsity coach Robert Ames runs open gyms for any student interested. These open gyms allow athletes to showcase their commitment and skills.
It allows students to do something fun and educational after school from 3:00 to 4:30. The schedule for open gyms varies and is posted on a Google Classroom which includes any player interested in playing basketball. During open gyms, there are drills and other activities that are run by Coach Ames.
Open gyms allow students to work on their leadership skills. It also gets the younger students involved with the older, higher-skilled players, allowing them to learn and obtain advice from the more experienced players.
Sophomore Treygan Jones said, “It is a fun way to connect with the guys and learn new skills.”
When a player makes a mistake, Ames always makes sure that they learn from it and they run the drill correctly. Occasionally when the gym is not occupied after open gym, players are allowed to stay and get shots up.
Open gym is sort of a recruitment process. Players that are at open gym are showing their talents and dedication to the sport and show their character which helps Ames obtain information on a player for himself and the two other coaches, junior varsity coach Matthew Hamm, and freshman team coach Matthew Cano.
Open gyms also prepare players for tryouts that are held on November 18 and 19. This is also where all three coaches attend and evaluate player’s performance from there they will make the decision on who will make the team. Unfortunately, there can only be a certain number of students per team which causes some students to unfortunately not make any of the teams. For some, this is a good and goal-achieving part of their basketball careers, but for others, they are not so fortunate. In the end for the less fortunate, there is always next year.
