The Marauder girls basketball team may be struggling a bit win-wise, but it’s all about learning how to compete and to compete hard.
The Mingus Union High School girls basketball team is 3-7 now at the midpoint of the season, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t working hard or building up their confidence.
“The team is competing to a certain point,” said Art Moncibaez, the Marauders’ new head coach. “It’s a learning system. I think we can compete. We’ve been playing some tough, tough teams.”
Moncibaez has been coaching the game for roughly 20 years. As a Mingus Union alumus himself, Moncibaez was previously the Marauders boys’ freshman team coach for eight years and the boys’ junior varsity coach for one year. He also coached the softball team at Mingus Union for 10 years.
“I love the game [of basketball],” Moncibaez said. “I played it, I graduated from Mingus, my two sons graduated from Mingus. It is a way for me and my sons to give back.”
Moncibaez is the head coach, but his two sons help the team with the drills and conditioning.
“I didn’t realize how much demonstrating helps, so my sons help me with that during practices,” Moncibaez said.
The girls practice every day they don’t have a game and focus on drills and more drills.
“We worked on fundamentals a lot in the beginning of the season,” Moncibaez said. “It got away from us, but now we’re going back to it because that’s what we need to work on.”
Moncibaez’s goal for this season is to teach the girls how to work hard and understand the game better.
For the full story, please see the Wednesday, Dec. 26, issue of the Cottonwood Journal Extra.
