Coyotes girls focus on fundamentals1 min read

By
Jeff Bear
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As the joke goes: What does an 800-pound gorilla do? Anything it wants.

The Big Park Community School girls basketball team is the 800-pound gorilla of girls middle school basketball in the region, seemingly doing whatever it wants in its games against other regional teams, but respectfully.

The Coyotes hosted the Bourgade Catholic Junior High girls basketball team on Thursday, Dec. 5, in the Village of Oak Creek and easily won their 10th game of the season with no losses, 36-8.

The Coyotes were looking sharp even before the game started by doing a series of drills that head coach Kirk Westervelt said mimics their practices.

“We don’t scrimmage, ever,” he said, “They just do passing drills, cutting, setting picks, they’ve got to curl around screens and catch and shoot. If they pass to me a weak pass, I send them back to the line.”

Westervelt said he has the girls focus mostly on fundamentals because he wants them to be ready to move on to the next level.
“That way the high schools don’t have to teach them that,” he said. “A good feeder program makes the kids be ready in high school to play at a high school level.”

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For the full story, please see the Wednesday, Dec. 11, issue of the Sedona Red Rock News.

Jeff Bear

Jeff Bear began his journalism career in 2003 as a graphic designer and sports reporter at the Weekly Register Call in Central City, Colorado. In 2007 he began working at the Canyon Courier in Evergreen, Colorado, as a graphic designer, but soon transferred into the editorial department where he worked as a copy editor and sport reporter under Editor Doug Bell. After a stint as a graphic designer at American Classifieds in 2009-10, Bear began working in 2011 as a copy editor at the Arizona Daily Sun, in Flagstaff. While at the Daily Sun, Bear was tapped by the late Randy Wilson to report on local sports including Northern Arizona University and Olympic medalists training in Flagstaff for the 2012 Olympics. In 2013 Bear began working at the Red Rock News in Sedona, Arizona, where he was an assistant editor and sports editor. Bear has two daughters, Angela and Jessica, with his wife Nina. He is a singer and guitarist, an avid cyclist and hiker, and enjoys camping with family and friends.

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Jeff Bear
Jeff Bear began his journalism career in 2003 as a graphic designer and sports reporter at the Weekly Register Call in Central City, Colorado. In 2007 he began working at the Canyon Courier in Evergreen, Colorado, as a graphic designer, but soon transferred into the editorial department where he worked as a copy editor and sport reporter under Editor Doug Bell. After a stint as a graphic designer at American Classifieds in 2009-10, Bear began working in 2011 as a copy editor at the Arizona Daily Sun, in Flagstaff. While at the Daily Sun, Bear was tapped by the late Randy Wilson to report on local sports including Northern Arizona University and Olympic medalists training in Flagstaff for the 2012 Olympics. In 2013 Bear began working at the Red Rock News in Sedona, Arizona, where he was an assistant editor and sports editor. Bear has two daughters, Angela and Jessica, with his wife Nina. He is a singer and guitarist, an avid cyclist and hiker, and enjoys camping with family and friends.