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Although the high school basketball season starts in November, it’s never too early to start preparing for the next season and last week, Coffee County played host to a four-day summer camp from Jun. 3-6.

Including Coffee County, there were 12 different schools that took part in the camp, with scrimmages being played at Joe Frank Patch Memorial Gymnasium, Raider Academy and the Manchester Recreation Center.

For the Red Raiders, the camp provided an opportunity to see how their younger players from last year perform in their new roles for next year.

“It’s critical that we get these scrimmages in during the summer so that we can find out who’s going to help us come November.” said Head Coach Andrew Taylor. “Right now, we have some injuries with a few players, but we have some guys that were junior varsity players who are getting their first varsity time and learning their new roles.”

Speaking of new roles, the Red Raiders will be looking to find new leaders after the departure of seniors Camden Hunt, Cooper Reed and Jackson Shemwell. When it comes to leadership for next season, Coach Taylor believes that it will be a group effort.

“Typically we do it by numbers. Last year, we only had three in the senior class and although Cam was a good senior for us, he didn’t play a lot and the leadership roles fell on Jackson and Cooper. This year, we’re going to have five or six seniors and leadership is going to be pinned on them because they’ve been here the longest. It’s not going to be just one guy.”

The Red Raiders will be looking to improve upon their 2023-24 season in which they went 18-13, placed first in the 4A District 9 Standings, finished runners-up in the District Tournament to Columbia and ended the season with a loss to Franklin in the Region Quarterfinals.

Meanwhile, not much has changed for the Lady Raiders, who are coming off of a stellar 2023-24 campaign in which they won a school-record 33 games, won their first Region Championship since the 1970’s and made their first State Tournament appearance since 1993.

Besides adding eighth grade standouts in Addalyn Clark and Hayleigh Harris, the roster remains unchanged from the previous year, which is a pretty rare occurrence.

“I think that’s why we look so strong this summer,” said Head Coach Joe Pat Cope. “Other teams are trying to get six or seven girls in from the middle school ranks while losing about three or four seniors, but we didn’t lose anybody. This team is close and they’ve welcomed the two new freshmen in and they’re all getting along great.”

Though it might be hard to improve upon last year’s success, Coach Cope and the Lady Raiders are still trying to find ways to be better.

“We’ve been trying to fine tune some little things,” said Cope. “We’re really trying to turn up the defensive pressure a lot harder than we did last year. Offensively, we’re trying some new things and with this group having played together for around three years now, they really pick up on things quickly.”

Learning things quickly will be the name of the game in these summer months. Even though the season is still five months away, every minute of practice may be the difference in counting your wins or winning where it counts.