LYNN — KIPP’s boys basketball head coach Moody Bey isn’t one to shy away from a challenge, and will do his best to show his team what it takes to win. After a “challenging” start with “up and down moments,” Bey said he’s happy with the progression he’s seen.
Bey, in his first season at the helm, wants his current and future teams to be known as “the hardest working team” in the gym. For it to happen, Bey believes it starts with him. He travels to opposing teams’ games to scout, takes hours out of his day to create practice plans, and develops different schemes game in and game out.
“I try to be the hardest working coach,” Bey said.
Bey has been leading with a “top-down” approach to try and show his team how hard he’s working for them. The belief is if the team sees its coach working hard, it’ll follow.
“The kids see how hard I work. I am hoping that it passes down to them and they match and exceed my effort,” Bey said.
Despite KIPP’s 1-4 start to the season, Bey is enjoying “taking a trip down memory lane” while connecting with his players. When communicating with his team, Bey tries to think back to his playing days to remember how he liked to be coached.
“[I’m] trying to figure out how to communicate to these kids effectively. ‘How did I like to be coached and taught?’ and trying to find those similarities,” Bey said.
Bey also enjoys improvement, and seeing practice work implemented during games.
“[I enjoy] seeing the kids start picking things up,” Bey said. “Seeing the lightbulb go off in the kids’ head during the game, like ‘oh, wow. I’ve seen this situation before [and] know what to do in this situation.’”
There are always challenges that come with being a first-year coach. One challenge for Bey is having a young squad that’s lacking a true leader.
“Our biggest challenge is finding a leader. Finding that person we can turn to when things are going good or going bad to keep us together,” Bey said. “Once that guy rises up, I think that is going to take us to the next level.”
Without a leader, Bey believes it will be hard to be consistent.
“We know what we have to do to win games, but consistently doing that will come along with having a leader,” Bey said.
Bey and the Panthers are back in action Friday night at home against Boston Day and Evening Academy with tip-off set for 6:30 p.m.
