Vikings work hard at tryouts for spot

About 40 boys at Bigfork High School spent the first part of this week vying for a spot on a 2009-2010 Vikings basketball team.

Paul LaMott has taken over the program, making him the third new head coach for the team in as many years.

LaMott moved to the area this summer from California to take on the role and work to revive the boys program, which has struggled the last few years.

He started tryouts on Monday night by making his expectations very clear to the boys, with the emphasis being that hard work and dedication were a must. The boys spent the first day of tryouts working on basic fundamentals.

LaMott recently selected his coaching staff, which includes five assistants.

"All of the coaches are giving in time and effort well beyond what may normally be expected," LaMott said. "I have it in my head that there is something special to be had here in Bigfork and I intend to work toward that as hard as I can until we uncover it or they send me packing my bags."

LaMott brought Jason Hall back to coach the junior varsity team. This is Hall's second year in this position.

"We talked quite a bit about the demands of the program and I wanted to be sure that he was comfortable with all of that and that we could work together," LaMott said of Hall. "I was hoping it would work out because at least there's one coach that will be there from last year. These kids have been through so much change and transition it's good to have some consistency."

LaMott said he felt it was important to meet with Hall because his philosophy about the program is much different than that of previous year's programs.

"We do expect success and excellence, but we won't be necessarily measuring that in wins and losses," LaMott said. "However, we do expect them to be a product of our efforts."

Those efforts will include the help of Todd Trent, who is also currently coaching the Swan River School 7th/8th boys basketball team. Trent will serve as the freshman Vikings coach, as well as the head assistant coach for the varsity.

Trent and Randy Gembala, who was selected to be a volunteer assistant coach, took some of the Bigfork boys to tournaments over the summer while LaMott was still in California.

"When I got here, they expressed interest in being part of the program," LaMott said. "Todd has a lot of coaching experience and is a great asset to the team and Randy has given an enormous amount of time and effort to the program."

Both Trent and Gembala have sons who are trying out for the team, but LaMott doesn't think that will have a negative impact on the program. Colter Trent is a freshman and Ryan Gembala is a junior, who played on last year's JV team.

"I could tell right off the bat that they wanted to see the program move in a positive direction," LaMott said. "Even though they both have sons in the program, I think they have shown that they have the best of intentions in helping improve the team as a whole."

LaMott's other volunteer assistant is Curt Wade, who was recommended for the position by Trent, and has experience playing competitive basketball and coaching at the youth level.

"He understands the game and wants to do whatever he can to help out the team," LaMott said.

LaMott said he thinks that turning the teams into more of a basketball program with consistency and higher expectations will help the Vikings find more success this season. He also thinks they will benefit from the revival of the Bigfork football program.

"I think what's nice is that the kids that come from the football team got a little taste of that," LaMott said. "They had some success and they were part of a real program. They learned that every person on every team matters. How they act in school and in the community, it all matters."

Many of the boys participated in open gyms at BHS as early as this summer. Since mid-October, they have been participating more intently with scrimmages against each other a few days each week.

"It's a Catch-22 because you want to see the kids get into basketball shape, but if you see them doing something that you want to correct, you can't because you're not allowed to coach them until the season starts," LaMott said. "On a positive side, if a player has been coming to open gyms it gives us a chance to see the player and gives us something to evaluate him on more than just what we see in the two days of tryouts."

This is also an advantage for the boys who are injured. Junior Carter Sorenson is mostly recovered from his kidney injury during the football season, junior Ben Sandry is still struggling with back problems incurred during the football season that escalated to the point of sidelining him just a few games into the season and junior Christian Ker had knee surgery less than two weeks ago from an injury he believes he sustained during an open gym after football season.

With so many boys trying out this year, LaMott will be having to make a few cuts, but will keep those that he thinks can get game-ready without too much work.

"If a player could make a team on the lower end but with some work could be a strong contributor, then we will put them on the team as long as it is not at the cost of another player that is at a higher skill level," LaMott said.

Although his current focus is selecting players for his teams, LaMott is also in search of anyone interested in serving as a team manager. He is hoping to get a couple of students and adults that can help the team out especially with videotaping games and keeping stats.