The Haines Glacier Bear boys return just one starter from last year’s state championship team, but coach Steve Fossman will have more height to work with this basketball season.
“Our team last year was definitely more guard-oriented,” Fossman said. “We had a kid that was 5’8″ playing the four position. That was Jesse Piper. This year, we have a lot bigger front line, guys where it’s their time for them to step in and have a bigger role on the team, and it just so happens that there’s a lot more size.”
One of those guards from 2009-10 is his son Kyle Fossman, who has since started his college playing career at the University of Alaska-Anchorage.
Kyle scored nearly 27 points per game as a Haines senior. He led the school to a one-point win over Nome to clinch a second Class 3A title in three seasons and was named the 2010 Gatorade Alaska Player of the Year.
Haines also graduated three other senior starters from a team that went undefeated in conference play. “There’s a lot of opportunity for playing time at all levels in the program right now,” Steve Fossman said.
The Glacier Bears will open their varsity schedule Dec. 27-29 at the Capital City Classic in Juneau.
“It will be non-conference,” Fossman said. “It doesn’t count for seeding at the end of the year. Typically, it’s always 4A teams, and it’s a privilege and a big deal to be invited to it, we feel.”
The junior varsity also has a tournament over the holidays, Dec. 20-22 at Thunder Mountain. The varsity home opener is Jan. 7-8 against Petersburg.
Junior Tyler Swinton is the team’s lone returning starter.
“He’s about 6’6″, shoots very well from the outside and handles the ball well,” Fossman said.
Swinton said he has taken on more of a leadership role.
“It should be a pretty good season,” he said. “We’re coming off a state championship, so you’ve got to be confident, but we lost a lot of seniors. I’m just hoping to improve.”
Fossman said December’s practices have focused on fundamentals, not long-term expectations.
“We’ve always just focused on teaching the kids the game and not getting hung up in the season and game to game, putting all our eggs in one basket,” he said. “We just try to teach them as much as we can and then just let them rise to the top with that, if they do. I’m not worried about the season. I think we have a lot of players that could really do well. As a coach, I just try to keep teaching them the same things and let them get better and play basketball.”
Fossman said he wants his team to outrun its opponents.
“What we try to teach is to push the ball in control,” he said. “We want to run and get good shots, and we encourage that. We push the tempo. It’s been a challenge, always with us. For some reason, it never seems like our teams run as much as we want them to, but it’s definitely what we teach.”
Fossman, in his fifth season, has about 25 athletes on his squad and has led practices with his wife, Ann.
“We have a bulk of juniors on the team, and it’s a huge difference, always,” he said. “Sophomore to junior year seems to be a really big jump physically.”
The Glacier Bears have eight returnees from their state tournament roster.
“All the coaches are excited to be working with these guys to continue to develop them,” Fossman said.
The team has two seniors, Drew Baltzell and Eric Klinger.
“I’m going to do my best to make the team better, being my last year,” Klinger said. “I’ll just work as hard as possible during practice and stay strong throughout the year.”