Coach Katelyn Deremiens

About The Coach & Coaching Philosophy

  As a teenager, sports were my life. Especially basketball. After graduation (Elton Collegiate), I only continued to play volleyball (in the Brandon senior women's league). Although I had an offer to join a basketball team at a college out East, I chose to stay close to home and there were not many opportunities to play basketball for women after high-school (Spring of 2012 was the birth of the women's league). I forgot about basketball for about four years, before I was approached by an former high school teacher of mine to assist her with the JV girls' team. I fell in love with basketball all over again, and from a completely different perspective. I experience such a feeling of pride and achievement when I get to bear witness to my teams' progress and achievement of goals that we have set.

  I believe that youth team sports have the potential to assist in the creation of great people. I believe each player deserves a personalized amount of one-on-one attention with the coach and that players can be utilized to assist their teammates' skill development and, in turn, strengthen our development as a team. I remind my team that its takes repetition and time to master basketball skills and encourage players to make use of the spare time (strength training, cardio etc.). I believe in open lines of communication between players, parents, and coaches. I believe that playing time should be as fair as possible and each player deserves a chance to shine; in the case of tight games, the players are aware that the players who are 'on' (we all have off games) will receive more time than others. The effort demonstrated in practice will contribute to the amount of playing time. I believe that I need to mentally prepare my players for off games, tough ref calls, and games where the opponents are exploiting team/personal weaknesses. I believe that the player that scores 20 points is equally as important as the player that protects the rim from 20 points and scores no baskets; in a game those huge offensive and defensive efforts cancel each other out, and its what the other players do that makes the difference. No player should ever feel that the lack of or few points next to their name means that they did not contribute to the team.

  I know that I am a role model to these young athletes and I act accordingly. I believe that I can inspire and motivate my players in the gym and on the court. I believe that the attitudes and behaviors that I bring to practice and games can translate into everyday activities and moods of my players. I believe there is a time for tough love, but that absolutely every conversation a coach has with a player or the team needs to end with a positive, encouraging statement. For example, I am sure to reinforce with my team that, although good and bad things will happen in a game, timeout situations will consist mostly of me coaching toward improvement in that set game. There just is not enough time to address each positive thing and area of improvement in a timeout. However, I always try to make the last thing I say, before they step back on the court, encouraging and positive. Basketball should build confidence, social/athletic skills, and a positive life perspective; never fear, anxiety, or low-self esteem. Victory is having a team play their best together on the court, regardless of the score. More often than not, this translates into increased Ws.