Boys basketball preview

The Oak Harbor High School Boys Basketball team is led by 3rd-year coach Michael Washington. Coach Washington is originally from Eastman, Georgia, but now calls Oak Harbor home, thanks to the US Navy. He is still on active duty with the US Navy, and plans to retire in less than two years. He played 4 years of varsity basketball in high school, and has been coaching basketball for over 15 years in a variety of settings. When asked why basketball, coach had a simple answer “I love it!”.
While the varsity team had a disappointing last year, winning only 4 games, the coach is optimistic for this year’s team. He expects strong on-and-off court leadership from returning senior Jimmy Edens, backed up by 6 other seniors: Zac Cole, Beaux Haley, Brooks Waller, John Manni, Josh Fikse and Phil Nadeau. Moving up from last year’s freshman team, Sophomore Denzel Hardin is expected to be a factor on the team, as is freshman Michael Washington, Jr. at point guard.
Coach Washington has set several goals for this year’s team, first among them is to play as a team, and “be together”. When the game ends, he wants the team to be happy that the scoreboard is in favor of the Wildcats, and not be concerned with which players put the points on the board. On a personal level, Coach wants to improve his teaching of the fundamentals, with an emphasis on defense
When asked what some keys were to success this season, one of the first things Coach mentioned was fan support, especially from the students. They players all notice how full (or empty) the student section is, and the coach notices that the team tends to play better when supported by a ‘loud and proud’ student section.
Coaching the JV team this year, and it may possibly be his last year, is Jim Waller. Jim retired from teaching English at OHHS two years ago. He is an Oak Harbor native, and has coached basketball (and baseball) for 32 years, all in Oak Harbor. Coach Waller says he coaches basketball as it was a family thing – when he was in high school, his father was the basketball coach at OHHS.
As with the varsity team, the JV team did not see a lot of success on the court during games, but did meet with a lot of success at practice. Coach Waller says the thing he remembers best from last year is the improvements in both individual and team play the boys made during the course of the season. Coach says he has some good talent on the team, and they should do well this year.
As is typical with JV squads, while it’s nice to win games, the emphasis for the team is improvement and getting ready to play varsity. There are a lot of sophomores on this year’s JV team, with leadership provided by juniors Nate Young and Colby Anter.
The freshman squad again is headed by Justin Ronning, in his 2nd year with the team. Justin played 3 years of varsity basketball at Selkirk HS in Ione, WA, and has been coaching basketball for 12 years, 8 of them in Oak Harbor. Like Coach Washington, Coach Ronning also loves the game of basketball. He is the PE teacher at Crescent Harbor Elementary School.
Last year the freshman squad compiled a 17-3 record, and Coach expects this year’s squad to continue with that type of success. He is looking at Matt Burgoyne, Edward Denmon and Kevawn Brooks to lead the team on the court.
The prime goal for the freshman team this year is to get better – a little bit every day. The team has already impressed their coach with their work ethic and intensity, and they are working on becoming more disciplined, both on the court and in the classroom.
Coach Ronning is assisted this year by Jon Atkins from Sutter, CA. He is new to Oak Harbor, and jumped straight into coaching.