This week eight teams that comprise District 5-2A have converted on Greenville High School for its season ending tournament.
The host team’s boys head coach recalls a time when there was a lot more preparation involved with logistics, meal accommodations and finding engaging activities for players between games.” But for this district times have changed. “There are only eight teams in our district right now-four girls teams and four boys teams,” said Greenville High Honeybees head coach Dekedreon Lampkin. “So with only four teams per bracket, there isn’t a whole lot of sitting around between games. Most teams look at the times they are scheduled to play and travel accordingly.”
But this does not mean that there won’t be instances where players have a little idle time.
“I don’t like for my players to just be walking around back and forth while other teams are playing,” Lampkin said. “I tell them to watch the games and observe the other teams, scout them out and learn about the team that you could potentially play down the road. The time in between games is where players make themselves better mentally.”
The tournament is designed to where the host team’s boys and girls will have a couple of days between games to get in some practice and observation. Lampkin said that despite the small number of teams, that there is still a standard that the host team should aspire to.
“We are going to work with school staff and a couple of local businesses to make sure that are arena is clean and concessions are up to part especially for one of our teams that has to travel from two and a half hours away,” he said. “I wear a suit during every game because that’s the bar that I’ve set and as a host, people should look back on their time in Greenville as very accommodating.” Greenville Public School District public relations specialist Everett Chinn concurred and called the hosting of a district tournament, “… a time to showcase your school and your city.”
Region 2-5A
District Tournament
at Greenville High
Monday, February 6
6 p.m. — Lafayette County vs Lake Cormorant (girls)
7:30 p.m. — Greenville vs. Cleveland Central (girls)
Tuesday, February 7
6 p.m. — Cleveland Central vs. Lake Cormorant
(boys)
7:30 p.m. — Greenville vs. Lake Cormorant (boys)
