Commerce High School’s basketball teams tipped off the season this week with opening rounds of practice.
The boys’ squad, led by coach Chad Bridges, worked out on Monday, with 17 junior varsity and varsity players arriving at the gymnasium. Another six or seven players are expected to join the
team after the Tigers’ football season ends.
The coach planned to focus on conditioning as well as repetition through the early stages of the season. Drills and intra-squad scrimmages help develop young players, he said, but strengthening players who already possess in-game experience largely depends on how fast the junior teammates adjust.
“It’s a lot more difficult right now because we don’t have the depth,” said Bridges, who is entering his fifth season at the helm. “We have a lot of conditioning to do and a long ways to go as far as experience.”
The Tigers lost seven seniors including five starters from last year’s 20-7 team, which advanced to the playoffs.
Commerce’s first game is Nov. 29 against Oglethorpe County, one of several nonregion games planned before the school’s Christmas Tournament, Dec. 28-30. The subregion schedule accelerates after the holiday break.
The Lady Tigers started training on Tuesday with Rex Gregg. The veteran Commerce High coach retired as the boys’ coach before Bridges’ arrival. This season will mark his first year leading a women’s team.
Gregg, who is also the football team’s offensive coordinator, was hired for the position after Eddie McCurley unexpectedly resigned before the girls’ basketball camp started this summer. McCurley is now the head boys’ coach at Hart County.
