Hopkins head bird in WC nest

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August 24, 2012

Hopkins head bird in WC nest

By Dennis Glade Washington Times-Herald The Washington Times-Herald Fri Aug 24, 2012, 10:21 AM EDT

WASHINGTON — See it. Be it.

That will be the mantra for the 2012-13 Washington Catholic Lady Cardinals basketball team under newly hired head coach Michael Hopkins. Hopkins has accepted the job of rebuilding the program that long-time coach James Mackey resigned from this past offseason.

Most recently serving as a varsity assistant coach for Evansville North during his six years at the school, Hopkins said the Washington Catholic job interested him because he wanted to get back into an atmosphere that would have been lacking at schools in Indianapolis and Evansville.

“I am familiar with the area, I played at Barr-Reeve,” Hopkins said. “I coached at a 4A school and the interest at least at Evansville North wasn’t comparable to here. You go to a sectional game and it might be 50 people in the stands. You go to a sectional game around here, it’s sold out.”

Despite the 2-20 record last season, Hopkins wants to establish ‘the see it be it mantra’ that he has used in the past.

“See yourself being a good passer, be a good passer. See yourself being a good shooter, be a good shooter. See yourself winning, be a winner,” Hopkins said. “See it be it sums up everything in basketball and our mission statement will be believe in yourself. Just because people say you guys can’t win at WC, I don’t buy into that. I believe in myself and the girls that are playing for me.”

Hopkins stressed the importance of gaining enthusiasm in the community about the girls basketball program in order to get younger girls interested in Lady Cardinal basketball. With a small enrollment at Washington Catholic, Hopkins said every player is important.

“Being seen at basketball games and having the younger girls being familiar with who the varsity coach is and who the varsity players are, I think that will spark interest and basketball will take some importance,” Hopkins said. “And through our program, basketball will become more than just a four- month sport. It’s going to be summer camps, maybe a fall clinic, maybe a Christmas clinic. Always throwing it out there so they have to know what is going on. That will be very critical in keeping the girls interest.”

Hopkins admitted that he hadn’t seen much from last year’s two-win team, but he was in person for their sectional loss to North Daviess.

He has some ideas on ways the team can improve. He wants to stay away from guaranteeing a win total, but he wants to establish a culture of self confidence against any opponent for the girls.

“Yes on paper and realistically there are some teams that we should not beat, but we’re not going to approach it that way,” Hopkins said. “Oh it says Barr-Reeve or (Vincennes) Rivet on their chest we shouldn’t even try,. No, we’re going to try like it’s an opponent we know we should beat. We’re going to change that mentality and attitude.”

As Hopkins enters into his first season with the Cardinals, he wants his team to know that self belief is the first step towards putting Washington Catholic back on the map and returning to relevancy.

“I believe if you can see it in your mind and take the steps to achieve it, I believe it can happen,” Hopkins said.

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