The Valley Regional girls’ basketball team has its sights set on continued improvement during the 2021 campaign. Last year, the Warriors featured a young club with first-year Head Coach Jaimie Bickelhaupt. The Warriors finished out the season overall record of 8-15, which included berths in the Shoreline Conference and the Class M State tournaments.

This year’s iteration of the Warriors graduated no players from last season as there were no seniors on the team last year. With the added year of experience, Bickelhaupt anticipates that Valley will be able to compete from a position of strength against the rest of the Shoreline Conference.

“As a team we are focusing on getting better every day, competing at the highest level we can, and winning games,” said Coach Bickelhaupt. “We want to be playing the entire season up until that championship game, which is a goal of ours.”

While Coach Bickelhaupt is focused on building a winning strategy for the group, she’s just looking forward to taking to the court and reconnecting with her squad.

“I really miss my team! I do. I usually see them every season with workouts and leagues, but this year took that, so it’s been tough to connect,” Bickelhaupt said. “I teach at the school, so having a few of them in class and some virtually helps, but I can’t wait to be on the court as a group again.”

The Warriors will feature three senior captains this year in Libby Cap, Alena Crosby, and Addi Marchese. Coach Bickelhaupt knows that she has capable leaders in that group, especially since Marchese and Crosby served as junior captains last campaign.

“They are all seniors who each bring a unique skill set to the table. Addi is very vocal and a big leader on the floor. The girls look to her as a point guard for guidance all the time. Alena leads by example. She works hard, is early for practice, and puts the time in to get better in any aspect,” Bickelhaupt said. “Libby has stepped up big being out almost her whole junior season due to injury. She’s ready to go this year and was a big presence in the off season getting the girls to keep up with workouts and holding the team accountable.”

Beyond the senior captains, Coach Bickelhaupt would like to see some other players become role models on the team.

“I definitely think there will be leadership on and off the court from our three senior captains,” Bickelhaupt said. “I’m extremely hopefully younger players will step into that role this year also.”

Of course, the COVID-19 pandemic looms over this season as it has done over the nation for the past year now. Coach Bickelhaupt knows that there will be added challenges this season as a result.

“As any team, I think the uncertainty of COVID is a huge challenge that we will face, but we will play that by ear,” said Bickelhaupt. “We’re also focused on the prevention of injury. We’re doing what we can, but playing at a high level with so much time off from sport could be challenging.”

Still, Coach Bickelhaupt believes that defense will win the day for the Warriors this year. She hopes that the defense can help ignite the offense and lead to easy buckets on the fast break, especially because the Warriors have some speedy players on the roster.

“Defensive-minded fast-paced basketball will be our identity this year,” Bickelhaupt said. “We’re another year older, another year wiser, and another year more conditioned. I think that will be a huge asset of ours.”

Coach Bickelhaupt wants to see her players take full advantage of the opportunity they have this season. With the COVID-19 pandemic wreaking havoc all over the athletic landscape, there’s no telling how long any team will be able to continue playing this year, and Coach Bickelhaupt wants her student-athletes to squeeze every last drop out of each game the Warriors play.

“I hope my athletes play every day like it’s the last time they will step on that court. This year could be an amazing year, and it could be extremely tough,” said Coach Bickelhaupt. “We don’t know what’s going to happen each day, and I want them to have no regrets. So having the mindset of ‘this might be the last time I step on this court’ and taking no plays off daily is a big hope for me.”

To that effect, Coach Bickelhaupt knows that her athletes need to stay focused on being effective. That means not wasting physical or mental energy on things that aren’t within the Warriors’ sphere of influence.

“We have to control the controllable. I’ve said this every day since day one when I started at Valley, and I think that can really be put into play here. We always talk about things we can control on the court: effort, attitude, hustle, et cetera,” Bickelhaupt said. “We need to take this lesson in. We can’t control what’s happening in the world right now, and it’s easy to say, ‘poor me,’ or ‘why is this happening?’ but if we keep dwelling on that, we’ll never see the amazing part of this, which is being able to do what we love—playing basketball.”