Mountaineers ready to put up fight
AFTER two straight win-less seasons for the Toowoomba Mountaineers, it seems unthinkable that the Clive Berghofer Recreation Centre could be a graveyard for visiting teams.
But that is what men's team coach Pop Dickerson is aiming for on the eve of their first Queensland Basketball League fixture against the Ipswich Force on Sunday.
Last night the Mountaineers officially launched season 2011 and despite their past troubles the mood was overwhelmingly positive. After two years with nothing to cheer, Dickerson is determined to give the Mountaineers' faithful something to get excited about in 2011.
“We're going to concentrate on winning games at home,” Dickerson said. “We want to be sending our supporters away with a smile and even if we do go down, we want them to know that we've put up a good fight.”
Last year the Mountaineers' young playing roster struggled to step up to the level required to be competitive in the QBL.
But with the signings of American imports Rashad Chase and James Legan and veteran QBL player Chris Hamill, Dickerson is confident the two-year win-less hoodoo can be broken this year. “I find it hard to believe we won't win some games at home,” Dickerson said.
“The thing about the team is it is so young and they have the capability to continue improving.”
After losing the services of last year's leading scorer Ezria Parsons to Ipswich, women's team coach Harry Spencer will also be relying on a youthful roster for the upcoming season. To combat this, Spencer had called former stars Melissa Fairley and Kirstyn Bliss out of retirement to add some much needed experience to his line-up.
Spencer is also excited about the addition of 6ft 2in power forward Olimpiea Hurst from Brisbane. Like Dickerson, Spencer's main aim is to build a competitive squad of players to represent Toowoomba long-term.
“As a young team, our main goal is to take small steps, play hard, improve and be competitive,” Spencer said.
Both coaches say crowd support is essential. “We need a sixth man ... a fan base to get behind us,” Dickerson said.
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