Basketball season has started and a new coach has taken over the boys’ basketball team: Coach Terrence Briggs. In addition to that, he also coaches Robison’s P.E. classes.
In college, Briggs played for the Kentucky Enforcers as both the point guard and shooting guard. His basketball journey began much earlier though; he had started to play basketball from a young age around his community.
“[Basketball is] something I did growing up, just around my area where I grew up at, playing around with the older kids. It was a way to connect and make friends,” Briggs said.
Briggs used to live in Kentucky, but moved to Florida for a variety of reasons.
“[I moved] for different scenery. I missed my family. I got back closer to my parents, my mom’s real old and things of that nature. [I] just wanted to be close to family and start coaching again in this area,” Briggs said.
A while after playing college basketball, Briggs started coaching the sport. He loved every second of playing college basketball, so coaching was his next step. Before he came to Robinson, he coached for a team in Kentucky called Dayton High School for two years, but he was excited to join the Robinson staff.
“I like the culture, just being able to learn the culture of what Robinson has and being able to bring back the success. There’s a lot of rich history here with both basketball and football. Just being able to try and get the community back into basketball,” Briggs said.
Despite it being Briggs’s first year coaching Robinson basketball, he hasn’t had any problems adjusting to the team, Partially due to the fact that he had already coached basketball, and that he said he was too excited to help his players grow for it to be a problem. However, every sports season brings new challenges and goals.
“We are still working on a couple of challenges, being able to come together as a team and play together as a team,” Briggs said. “But we have been growing day in and day out. We’ve gotten better at that.”
Despite the challenges the basketball team has had with teamwork, Briggs is not letting down his expectations.
“I’m excited for growth [and to] just see where the team can go. I have great expectations for this year. [I’m] just ready to see if they are up to the challenge I’m giving them,” Briggs said. “By installing great traits, whether that be [being on time], competitiveness, just this aggressiveness to do better for themselves.”
Briggs does not just have goals and expectations for his players, he also has goals he wants himself to reach as a coach, which directly affect the performances and even success of his players.
“[My goal is] to help the players succeed in life, whether that be with basketball or outside of basketball. Just being able to help them grow into better men, better individuals, those are my goals as a coach,” Briggs said.
Senior and third year player Malik Williams emphasizes what positivity and success Briggs has brought to the team.
“Coach Briggs is a great coach and a great person in general, he has brought a lot of energy and intensity to this team and he really well connected with the team and he knows how to joke around and be serious at the same time, which makes him for easy to connect with as a whole,” Williams said. “The team likes him too so it’s good to have a new coach like him and get connected so quickly.”
As the season goes on, Briggs’ predications for his team are very high and are far reaching.
“[I predict] That we will have a winning season, and that we should compete for district championship, and we will make the playoffs,” Briggs said.
