The562’s coverage of Jordan Athletics is sponsored by former LBUSD superintendent Chris Steinhauser.
The562’s coverage of Long Beach Wilson Athletics is sponsored by Joel Bitonio, Class of 2009.
Hank Waddles has been coaching middle school basketball in Long Beach for more than 13 years, at Lindbergh and more recently Stanford. Last week he coached his first-ever high school basketball game, having stepped in as the interim girls’ basketball coach at Wilson High following the resignation of Erin Carey, who said she stepped down due to “relentless” mistreatment from parents.
An up-and-coming Jordan program was too much for the Bruins, as Panthers coach Wesley Rosenbaum continues his successful development of the Northside program. The Panthers took down the Bruins, 72-35, led by 21 points from Bryanna Moran.
Jordan is highly-ranked in their CIF-SS division and will have a chance to compete for a championship this year. For Wilson, the goals are set in a different spot, but their new coach was happy with the first step of their journey together.
“As a sports fan, as a Moore League fan, I’ve gone to hundreds of football, basketball, soccer games,” said Waddles. “To be coaching in a Moore League game tonight was in some ways a dream come true. These girls have been through it, it’s been a rough three weeks for them. We had one practice and then we got out there today. A big part of that practice was just me learning their names. But these girls are great. There’s been a lot of drama around the program, but not with the players.”
Waddles said that his new team greeted him enthusiastically and has been excited to put the off-court drama behind them and get back to basketball.
“I feel completely welcomed, you can see how hard the players are working,” he said. “There was a lot of good that happened out there tonight–the girls maybe don’t see that. But as a coach, that’s what we look for, for sure.”
The Bruins were led by 23 points from sophomore Tristin Foafoa.
Waddles said he brought his own set of team rules that he’s used as a coach, but that he’s optimistic about managing the parent dynamic going forward.
“I brought my own set of team rules for the players, but one thing I made clear at our meeting was that I didn’t come here to coach the parents, I came here to coach the players,” he said. “That’s been my message to the administration, who couldn’t be more supportive of this program. So I’m going to coach those 12 girls and we’re going to work hard.”
