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| Girls basketball coach kept busy in offseason By Mark Foyer [ markf@hmbreview.com ] Published/Last Modified on Wednesday, November 19, 2008 4:52 PM PST For John Carey, the girls’ basketball coach at Half Moon Bay High School, and his counterparts in the Peninsula Athletic League, Nov. 1 was the date practice for the 2008-09 season could officially start. “Now I can see what people are capable of doing,” Carey said. “I can also see what are good fits.” It’s not that Carey and his counterparts were idle from the conclusion of last season to the first day of practice. In Carey’s case, he held open gyms for anyone interested in playing during the summer. When school started, he held conditioning sessions for those not involved in fall sports. He did even more behind the scenes, from making out the nonleague schedule to attending a coaching clinic. When the Cougars’ basketball season ended last year, Carey followed some friends in the coaching ranks who were still playing. With a notebook in hand, he would draw up plays that he thought could work for Half Moon Bay. He also got together with his friends after the games. “We would trade ideas and draw up plays on cocktail napkins,” Carey said. “I have a lot of cocktail napkins.” Carey and his friends would also talk philosophy and strategy, all to get a better idea of what would work for the Cougars in practice and games. Half Moon Bay makes its debut with the alumni game on Nov. 26. The Cougars play their first nonleague game on Nov. 29 at Sobrato High School in Morgan Hill. As summer league and fall conditioning concluded, he looked at the players expected to come out. That got Carey even more excited. Of the seven players returning, five were on the floor when Half Moon Bay rallied from a nine-point deficit, with three minutes left in the game, to beat Menlo School in the season finale. Carey has five players new to varsity. “The preseason games are coming up quickly,” Carey said. “I have to keep on evaluating players.” |