Learning experience for Beard, Gretna

GRETNA — Dalric Beard stares down his bench, looking at his players dressed in blue and gold. It’s not a long stare for the first-year coach of Gretna boys basketball, as a couple of assistants and six players sit on the bench alongside him.

The former George Washington basketball player and assistant coach, who is rather soft-spoken off the basketball court, roars at his players to keep hustling, keep pushing the tempo. Sometimes they respond. Other times, Beard buries his head in his hands.

While the beginning of the year featured more frustration than much anything else, Beard knew that it would take time for his players to finally “get it,” and that once they did, things would start looking up. And now, the Gretna Hawks are finally starting to get it.

“I think (I was) coming into a bed of roses,” Beard said jokingly on Thursday about taking the coaching job in August. “It’s a rebuilding year. They didn’t have a lot coming back from last year; I think they only had three returners from last year. So, it’s rebuilding and we’re a small team, so it’s a lot of obstacles to come over.”

Heading into Friday’s game at Appomattox, Beard noticed that his players finally played four complete quarters of basketball against William Campbell.

Coincidently, it was the first game after the Hawks (0-7, 0-3 Dogwood) were bounced from the Holiday Shootout that they finally got it together.

Tuesday’s game against William Campbell might have been won in regulation if not for the cheerleaders — the home cheerleaders nonetheless — distracting Braxton Ward at the free throw line. Ward made 1-of-2 to send the game into overtime, which the Hawks lost by two.

Through the Hawks six games, including two in the Register & Bee Holiday Shootout, Beard said that his team had not put together four quarters of basketball in a game.

“I think, right now, since the holiday break, they’re understanding what they are capable of,” Beard said. “Once they understand that, everything will start to gel together. We’re coming, slowly, we’re coming.”

Another part of what Beard has been teaching is getting his players to buy into the system, which has worked beautifully at GW for many, many years. After getting the chance to play the Eagles in the Shootout, it became a little bit clearer to the players that if a system works for one team, it could work for them as well.

“I think about playing teams like GW and Reidsville in the tournament let us know what real pressure is like,” center/forward T.J. Jennings said. “If we can hang with them boys, we can almost beat anybody in the district.”

Pressure. A defensively philosophy that GW coach Bobby Martin still carries with the Eagles and is what Beard has brought to the Hawks. While it is
Beard’s first gig as a head coach at any level, he knows how to teach the defense, as he was a player and an assistant coach in it.

“We have the same style of defense. Everybody believes in pressure that comes from the GW area,” Beard said, “and work ethic is the biggest thing. If guys work hard and get in shape and go through our work regimes, they’ll be ready. Bobby Martin, he taught me a whole lot; coach (Chris) Carter, all those guys.”

The players who were asked about the pressure defense and fast-paced offense all agreed that the work that they put in since August — the earliest they say they have been in for conditioning — has paid off greatly. Jennings noted that when he gets on the court, it shows.

“He knows what he’s talking about and he gets us right,” guard Marquistin Calloway said. “He got a whole new plan. Everything he does is unique.”

It is unique for a team like Gretna, which is overshadowed by its football and softball programs, to be on the cusp of success in the Dogwood District. Beard
did not put a timetable on how long it would be because former mentors and coaches, like Martin and Carter, where there to give him the right advice.

“It started with me. They reminded me that I was coming into a program that was building,” Beard said. “So, they said I had to have patience and that was the main thing that I kind of took in from them. ‘Don’t expect this team to be like GW’s team. You’ve got to come into a new atmosphere and work with what you got.’”

The atmosphere has changed in the Pittsylvania County school. The wins will come, sooner or later, but the learning experience has seemingly taken its first course with the players.

“There’s a lot more teamwork too, I think,” Ward said. “Seems like a lot more teamwork after the tournament. We came back, we practiced over the whole break. I just feel like we got to know each other more on the court and know what each of us can do.”