Eisenhower Has Athletes; New Attitude

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New Attitude at Eisenhower

By Ahmard Vital

In today’s media, almost anything can make a headline. There are blogs and social media sites like FaceBook and Twitter that keep a constant flow of news coming by the second. For the most part, coaches handle this level of attention differently.

Some tell their players to not read into this stories that much while others may tell the players to not read it all together. That is not the case with Eisenhower coach Dre Thompson. He encourages his players to read all of it. In fact, he makes the articles, predictions and columns available to his players.

There are a number of factors that will play into the way the Eisenhower team shows up in 2011. And with what the team has read, it is just added gas to the fire.

“We (Eisenhower organization) are trying to erase the ‘buts’ from people. Too many times we are referred to as a team that can do well (but),” Thompson said. “You know, Eisenhower has a lot of talent, but…The team should do well this season, but…The kids are motivated by all of that and I let them read it all.”

This season, Thompson has 12 players who started back in the lineup for this year. On top of that, he has a number of promising underclassmen who will step in and make an impact as well. But when it comes to this new attitude or swagger as the kids say these days, it is not just the words in print that have the Eagles fired up.

Last season, Eisenhower made the postseason, but fell in bi-district to Cy Woods. For Thompson and the Eagle team, that loss stung.

“There were lots of players on the team when we lost in the playoffs last year. And the guys went into the off season saying that this will not happen again,” Thompson said.

And so it began. The guys started working with an entire new focus and attitude. And whereas the players typically buy into the coaches, for this, the coaches bought into the players.

“We saw that the kids were putting in a lot of work and they said they mean business,” Thompson said. “There was little talk and all action. So I went to the coaching staff and said that we are going to stand behind the kids and back them up. Now, it is up to us as coaches to put them in a position to win.”

Eisenhower will get its first taste of action this week as the Eagles face off against Hightower this Friday.