Beard leading Gretna against his former team in return to Shootout

It’s been a long time since former George Washington assistant boys basketball coach Dalric Beard sat on the bench during one of the Eagles’ games.
He was away from the game all of last season, in fact.

But Beard, a first-year head coach with the winless Gretna Hawks, will once again share the sideline, if not the bench, with his former team Friday night. His No. 8-seeded squad takes on undefeated and top-seeded GW in the first round of the Register & Bee Holiday Shootout at Averett University’s Grant Center in Danville.

After several years of not playing in the annual tournament, Gretna players are preparing to share the court with some of the best teams in the area.

“There’s a lot of history there with Gretna in this tournament, so hopefully we can come back in and reestablish ourselves,” Beard said. “Some of (my players) are nervous. Some of them are excited. I’m a little bit of both myself.”

Beard knows that competing with perennial Group AAA powerhouse GW is a tall task to ask of his team. Not only is Gretna a member of Group A, which consists of the smallest schools in the state, but the Hawks have had significantly less time to prepare for their basketball season, since a number of their players were members of the state championship-winning football team.

“It’s still rough. Once they get some dedication going, I think we’ll be all right,” Beard said. “We just want to go in there and play hard and hope for the best. GW is going to always be GW. They’re always going to be aggressive and if we don’t come out and match their intensity, we’re going to be in trouble.”

Regardless of his team’s results in the tournament, Beard is sure that the competitive environment of the Holiday Shootout will prove a boon to the struggling Hawks as they prepare for Dogwood District competition beginning in January.

“We just want to go in there and just match up and see where we stand and what we need to work on,” Beard said. “This is a perfect opportunity to see what we need to do over the break to get ready for our district, because everybody in here is going to be a lot better than what we’re going to face in our district…

“This is a test just to see what we can do and what we need to work on.”