“We’d like to improve on our record, that’s a definite,” said Brock.
Brock spent last season coaching the junior varsity team and applied for the varsity job after it was posted following the 2011-2012 season, like all sports positions are. Since Brock was already an employee of the school district as a physical education teacher at Geyser Road Elementary, and his predecessor Frank Mahoney was not, a stipulation in the teachers’ contract with the district necessitated the change. Despite the change at the top, Brock is confident the team will show improvement.
“We’ve got a real good solid core of returning kids,” said Brock. “Nick Smith, John Rach and our big guys underneath. I hate to single anybody out because we always think ‘team.’ We have some real strong leaders here.”
Brock mentions the leadership of the recently-voted captain of the team, the 5-foot-11-inch senior guard Jason Martinez, referring to him as a “field general.”
“Whether he’s on the bench or he’s on the court, he’s just gives 100 percent. He’s a heck of a leader.”
The coach was again quick to return to the idea that they need to play less like a group of players and more like a team.
“We’re going to build on working together as a team with 15 guys all working hard and so far that’s been going great.”
The Blue Streaks won’t have to wait long to show the rest of the Suburban Council what they can do. They open with two home games against local rivals, with Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake visiting on December 7 and the always competitive Shenendehowa Plainsmen coming to town December 11. Brock points to their first road game December 14 against Shaker as a tough challenge early on in the season. In his estimation, there won’t be any easy wins coming in their conference this season.
“Anybody in the Suburban Council will challenge us. When I used to coach, it used to be you could pick out half the games and think we had a real good chance of winning those ball games. Now when you look at the schedule, there are just no weak teams out there,” said Brock. “Even these single-A teams are going to be a challenge.”
The team’s make up is smaller, athletic players. Despite the lack of size in the front court, their coach believes that the team’s speed is the key to victory.
“We’re very up tempo. We’ve got to be,” said Brock. “Today everybody tries to run an up tempo offense but I think the crew we have here is going to excel within a faster offense. The only problem is calming your players down once you see what you aren’t getting out of it. If you don’t have it, then you have to scale it back and run a set offense.”
“We are definitely small,” said Brock. “We’re going to have to win games with speed and endurance.”
Joining Brock this season as an assistant coach is none other than Saratoga Today’s own Damian Fantauzzi. The coach brings an old school mentality and tons of experience to a team who is sure to face a certain amount of adversity this season.
“Damian adds experience,” said Brock. “He’s got 30 years of coaching experience and another 10 years of playing experience. He and I go a long ways back. When I first came to Saratoga Springs, I was his assistant.”
“I was a lousy assistant, too. I had been a head coach for a while and thought it would be an easy transition and it wasn’t. He had enough of me after a couple years,” Brock said with a laugh.
For now, Brock has a team of returning players and a chance to bring Saratoga Springs basketball out of the Suburban Council’s cellar after a tough season.
