Photo by Sarah Finnegan.
Senior point guard Parker Boswell (2) is Spain Park’s top returner. The fifth-year player will have a large influence on the Jags’ success in the 2018-19 season.
It’s all about trust for the Spain Park High School boys basketball program.
With so much recent change in the team, new head coach Chris Laatsch said it starts with players trusting coaches and vice versa.
“They have to know that we love and care about them as people, not just as players,” said Laatsch, who was hired at Spain Park in April after previous stops at Helena and Briarwood. “That’s important in our program, and wherever I go, that’ll always be the first thing I try to do.”
Last season, the Jags finished 5-20 overall and dropped their final 10 games. It was a season that would seem to be an anomaly based on Spain Park’s track record, as former head coach Donnie Quinn led the Jags to the Final Four as recently as 2016.
Laatsch said there is certainly a “learning curve” for players and coaches alike with a new staff, but that is to be expected.
“Everybody that runs a program is going to have different things that they’re looking for or what their keys are, or what frustrates them most or what’s most important,” he said.
Over the summer, the Jags won about as many games as they lost. Coaches don’t typically put much stock into game results in the summer, but it was good for the Jags to emerge victorious in some contests, considering the rough stretch in 2017-18.
“I thought that was important for us to win some games against some good people,” Laatsch said. “We’re doing different things in the weight room and our fall conditioning so they have to get used to that. They’re fighting and competing and getting better. We’re seeing gains in the weight room and in mental toughness. I feel like we’re trending upward.”
Laatsch doesn’t come into his new position with a set style of basketball he wants to play. He plans on maximizing his team’s ability by doing whatever best suits the roster, even though he is not quite sure what that will end up being.
“I think it’s going to take us awhile to really see who we are and what are we good at and what do we need to do to be successful,” Laatsch said. “You’re just really prepping for the area tournament and trying to get hot at the right time. As long as we’re preparing, we’ve got time to figure it out.”
On the court, Parker Boswell is back as the Jags’ top returner. Boswell, a senior point guard entering his fifth year on the varsity team, will be relied upon to lead the team in its time of transition, both on and off the court.
“That was one of the first things we tried to do when we got here, was just build a relationship with him, because I think the guys really look up to him simply because of the talent and ability he has and the fact that he’s been on varsity for five years,” Laatsch said.
Blake Nord and Chip Culpepper are the other two players who saw significant time with the varsity team last year and will be expected to contribute once again. Laatsch also mentioned Cameron Crawford as potentially having a strong season. Austin Laatsch, his son, will provide production and experience, too.
The roster boasts seven seniors, several of them brought up from the junior varsity team last season.
“I think we’ve got a group of guys that we can build around simply because of their buy-in and how badly they want this opportunity,” Chris Laatsch said.
