Fraser

Fraser girls basketball prepares to embark upon new season

By Mark Vest
C & G Sports Writer

» click to enlarge « Photo by David Schreiber Fraser coach Dave Kuppe shares some words with his team during practice. The Ramblers are scheduled to kick off their season Dec. 4. Photo by David Schreiber Fraser coach Dave Kuppe shares some words with his team during practice. The Ramblers are scheduled to kick off their season Dec. 4. Photo by David Schreiber Fraser senior Ashly Skrok grabs a rebound during a recent practice session. Coach Dave Kuppe is relying on his seniors to play a big part in helping to lead the way for the Ramblers. 0 Photo by David Schreiber Fraser senior Ashly Skrok grabs a rebound during a recent practice session. Coach Dave Kuppe is relying on his seniors to play a big part in helping to lead the way for the Ramblers.

Girls basketball practice has begun, and Fraser coach Dave Kuppe is hoping that this can be a season in which the program’s winning tradition is re-established.

Up until approximately three seasons ago, when the streak was snapped, Fraser had won seven consecutive district championships.  He would like to start a new streak this season, and this may be a good year to do it.

The Ramblers will be taking to the court with six seniors, and although the team is still early into its practice schedule, Kuppe has been pleased with the kind of leadership he has seen from his upperclassmen.

“We talk about that all the time,” he said. “Our seniors have to lead the way. Whether you’re a captain or not a captain, you’re a senior — you’ve got to really show the young kids how they’re supposed to do things. They’ve been doing a great job of doing just that.”

Of course, before Fraser gets to the district tournament, there is the matter of a regular season to attend to. The Ramblers last won a league title in 2005, and in order to take aim at a Macomb Area Conference Red Division championship, Kuppe is using an analogy his team may be able to relate to in order to take incremental steps toward that goal.

“We’d like to win our league,” he said. “But one of the things we do is we keep our goals kind of short-term. Our short-term goals right now are just to get better every day. We take one game at a time. We want to play our best when the game comes up. It’s almost like taking a test in your class. You do the homework, and now it’s time to take the test. How did you do on the test?

“We take that information and we build on the next goal, which is the next game,” Kuppe continued.

In order to prepare his team for what he hopes will be a successful run, Kuppe has not been taking a business-as-usual approach at practice.

In the past, he has used some of the first practice sessions of the season to work on the offense. But Kuppe has reversed the process this time around.

Although he said the Ramblers’ defense was one of the best in the county last year, he thinks it can be even better. He would like to reduce the amount of points-per-game Fraser allowed last season and play to what he considers to be one of the primary strengths of his team.

“I think we’ve got a lot of quickness,” he said. “We’ve got some guards that can really
run, and we have some forwards who can run well. Defensively, that’s going to really play a big part because we’ll be able to attack the ball, recover and help each other out very well.”

Fraser is scheduled to open its season Dec. 4 at home against Royal Oak.

You can reach C & G Sports Writer Mark Vest at mvest@candgnews.com or at (586)279-1112. Follow Mark on Twitter.