Athens Bible School basketball is in the early stages of their 2022-2023 campaign, and are looking to play a certain brand of basketball under another year of being guided by head coach Rusty Brand.

Coach Brand is excited about the group he has this season and goes into detail about what he expects from his team.

This includes returning starters and also senior leaders.

“I bring back three starters and multiple seniors,” Brand said. “We did graduate one of our leading scorers from last year, so we should still have some guys who can put the ball in the hole, which is obviously a good thing. We are excited about the guys coming back for us.”

While Brand is not in his first season at the helm for the Trojans, each team is different from the last and, therefore, each team has to find its own identity.

Brand goes into what he believes and hopes will be the identity of his team moving forward.

“I think, even though we may be bringing back some of the same players, you are still trying to find your chemistry and still trying to get guys to believe in each other. What I was really impressed with over the summer is there was a level of toughness and resilience with our kids. You want that – the ‘I don’t care what the score is’ (mindset). We saw a lot of that over the summer, even in some (exhibition) games we did not win,” Brand said. “Yes, I want them to be great scorers, but there are going to be some nights the ball does not go in the hole for you. But, are you willing to go back down the floor and play defense real hard? Are you willing to dive on the floor? Are you willing to rebound?”

While the identity may change from team to team, the message of toughness is easier to get across with the leadership from seniors and returning starters they possess.

Brand goes over some of the key messages for the team, which are harped on by their leaders.

“We say a lot ‘if you score, we score,’ and the point there is that we don’t care too much who gets the tick mark next to their name in the scorebook. At the end of the day, if one person makes a three, then we all do; if another person scores a three, we all do,” Brand said. “We are trying to find real happiness with us playing that way. They’re doing all the right things. We have some games that I know are going to be tough for us, but at the end you hope to be better.”

At Athens Bible School, where many adult leaders volunteer their time to make a difference in the lives of the students, Coach Brand is looking to make a difference by making basketball something they can enjoy and cherish.

“I think we want to win basketball games – every coach does – but I think you also want to create some memories for these guys to look back on when they are my age and go ‘I remember that, it was a lot of fun.’ Hopefully it is something that all sticks out in their head and they talk about it at their 30-year reunion. You really want to make it a good time.”