Young Kern Valley squad has no returners
The season is at hand for the JV Lady Broncs basketball team. The go into the year as a young team that has no returners.
To some, this might be considered a growing experience. But this is what the JV program is all about. Getting players ready to compete at the varsity level. Kenny Bushling returns to coach the Lady Broncs after a 25-year absence. When he first started teaching at Kern Valley he coached the JV teams for two years. During his time at Kern Valley, Bushling has had plenty of coaching experience. He has assisted or coached several teams over his 27-year career.
He will go into the year with the varsity coach, Bill Gallis working as a team in guiding his young charges. With no returners on the team, Bushling will have to get the Lady Broncs moving together in the right direction. The current make-up of the team will be three sophomores and nine freshmen. The three sophomores on the squad are Mille Bustamante, Hazel Kiosef, and Samantha Ruiz. Rounding out the rest of the squad are, Piper Connolly, Kaylle Ellis, Brooke Gibson, Taylor Kristy, Amber McAhren, Peyton Mental, Zoe Perfect, Bobbie Pruitt, and Alissa Webster.
As the coach, Bushling has a goal set in mind. He wants his players to get prepared to play at the varsity level. With this young squad with no high school experience, fundamentals and learning how to play at the high school level will be the focus. Bushling said, “The goal this season is to help the team prepare for the varsity level. Coach Gallis and I will really be focusing on the fundamentals for this group. Along with learning the fundamentals we want the team to learn how to win. We will be seeking an HDL JV title while we build a culture of hard work, teamwork and winning.”
Attaining this goal is the challenge as they get ready to begin their season. Bushling has a plan and will implement this in getting his players to come together and form a team. Working along side of the varsity players, he hopes to allow the more experience players to teach the younger team. Bushling said, “We will seek to obtain these goals with demonstration, practice, repetition. Coach Gallis and I will be working together and creating a “program”, not two separate teams, but a system where the girls can progress to higher levels of basketball.”
As they begin to play games, the courts will be filled with the chance to learn the game through competition. In the non-league it will have to be a quick learning curve as they get one game and one tournament before HDL action comes into play. Bushling will have to adjust on the fly and find which players will form the Lady Broncs starters and the rotations during games. He would say, “In the non-league portion of the schedule, we will be looking to improve rapidly as we have one game and one tournament before league play. I’ll be using these opportunities to find the most compatible positions for the players.”
Other HDL schools struggle to have JV teams and that will also be a challenge for this Lady Broncs team. Needing the game experience to compete for a league title. Bushling said, “Unfortunately, several league schools will not be having JV girls’ teams, however, Bishop and Rosamond, as usual I’m sure will be strong contenders.”
After just a short time of practices before this Kern Valley squad will take to the court, finding what will bring this team together. When asked what he sees as the strength of the team, Bushling stated, “The strengths of our team are that we are solid at each position and I feel like we will have good depth. We have a good mix of quickness, power, height, and athleticism. We have several girls that will be able to play multiple positions.”
Of course, with the lack of experience on the Lady Broncs team. The areas that need work could be extensive, Bushling when posed this question responded, “Having such a young team we will need to work on learning the game, and emphasizing the fundamentals of dribbling and passing. I want to run an up tempo game, with pressure to create turnovers and convert those turnovers into points for us. I also want to teach man defense, where we apply relentless pressure and help each other when there is a breakdown. We will be putting in maximum effort when on the court, basically not allowing any opponent to out hustle us.”
Asked to share his closing thoughts as his team gets ready to play their first game of the year, Bushling said, “I’m excited to be coaching the girls after a long absence of coaching at this level. After the first week of practice, I like what I see, with the coachable, hustle and excitement of the team.”
With the way the coach sees his team, one can be positive that despite the lack of experience, the Lady Broncs JV squad will be competitive and effective in doing what they need to do to be successful. Kern Valley will get their first chance to see what it’s like to play at the high school level comes Thursday when they defend their home court against Mira Monte. The game is scheduled to top off at 5 p.m.
