Middle school preparing basketball players for next level
Rosemary Clarke Middle School plays a key role in shaping Pahrump Valley basketball players before they go to high school.
“Our mission is simple,” middle school coach Adam Lightfoot said. “We work on the fundamentals of basketball and make sure the kids are ready to play at the high school level.”
Lightfoot is also a seventh-grade social studies teacher at the middle school.
It sounds simple but when you don’t have a league it can be a daunting task.
“All the games are set up ahead of time by our athletic director (Tammy Winters) and she just calls schools,” he said. Which means a lot of time coordinating bus schedules and travel time. The team plays around 16 games, according to Lightfoot and travels as far as Ely, Nevada for games.
There are four teams and 25 players total for both boys and girls.
The A level teams are the eighth graders and the B level teams are made up of sixth and seventh graders.
“All the players are treated as one team and one program,” Lightfoot said. “Which means we practice together. Since there is no league, that means there is no championship.”
Lightfoot said his boys are doing well for early in the season.
“We need to work on making our shots,” he said. There is definitely room to grow. While I’m optimistic, I think we’ll encounter things we haven’t seen yet this season.”
The boys coaching staff is Mark McDaniel (B-Team); Robert Nielson, seventh-grade teacher and Adam Lightfoot (A-Team). The girls teams are coached by Sarah Kent, sixth-grade teacher (B-Team); Lori Odegard, assistant and sixth-grade teacher and Erik Odegard, third-grade teacher Floyd Elementary (A-Team).
On Thursday, the team travels to Faith Lutheran and this weekend, A-Team will be at the Schofield Shootout at Schofield Middle School in Las Vegas.
Contact sports editor Vern Hee at vhee@pvtimes.com
