Coach Mo's Near Dozen
Tall, intelligent, and charismatic, Coach Monique Liddell (pictured with captains Jenn Dillon ’09 and Lauren Dobish ’08 at Mercersburg's Winter Sports Banquet) speaks fondly of her small team of eleven girls. It’s tough, she notes, to accommodate everybody on a team with all skill levels.
“How do you make them happy? How do you make them all feel wanted? How do you make them all feel needed?” These are questions that the new head women’s basketball coach confronted every day during the season.
New to Mercersburg this year from Seton Keough High School in Baltimore, Liddell faced the unique challenge posed by the lack of distinct junior varisty and varsity squads. Instead, she had one team with players ranging from near beginners to four-year varsity players like Dobish. “I hope,” Liddell said early in the season, “to get them to understand that it’s not about wins and losses. It’s about giving 100 percent every time you step on the floor.”
Liddell was lucky to have a motivated group this year. She described the team's work ethic as “something I haven’t experienced in some time.” After a hard-fought game against Hedgesville early in the season, Liddell noted that “a couple of parents [from the other team] came over to me, and they said ‘if only if you had a few more numbers... but your girls worked hard every minute of the game’.” Clearly other people saw their determination as well. Liddell knew early on that “it was going to be a season of ups and downs, but this is a challenge that they were ready for and its something they were willing to work toward.”
She should know. Liddell got a late start playing basketball, joining her first team in high school. Making up for lost time, she devoted herself to the sport, earning a scholarship to Morgan State University where she was a three-time all-conference selection. Remaining behind two years after graduation as an assistant coach, Liddell found her true calling--only she didn’t know it yet. She played professional ball in Luxembourg before realizing that she really preferred coaching, so she returned to the U.S. Liddell knew she wanted to coach at the high school level, where more teaching is involved. Fast forward a couple of years, and here she is as head coach.
Asked about her coaching philosophy, she quickly responds, “Basketball is a game of fundamentals. It’s about teaching the game... the more you know about the game the easier the game will be. Otherwise it’s just a competition of speed and strength.” As a result, practices are intense, move quickly, push defense, and are physically demanding. Her goal was to make practices ten times harder than games. And the girls did it. Their determination and will was constantly tested with wall sits and sprints, but it never faltered.
Dobish, a captain and four-year varsity player, didn’t know what to expect from the new coach. Early on, she admits, fear was a clear motivator for the team. “Coach Mo [Liddell’s acquired nickname] is clearly passionate about basketball, and we were a bit intimidated at first. But once the season started, things began falling into place.” Dobish was impressed by Liddell’s planning and sense of urgency. “Every minute of practice was planned out. There was no wasted time. There were even instances during games when Coach Mo yelled at us because we took too much time walking to the bench after a called timeout. We needed that.”
And the season did have its ups and downs. The Blue Storm beat Mid-Atlantic Prep League rival Lawrenceville twice after having endured a couple of devastating overtime losses to the Big Red in recent years. But Mercersburg also lost to Hill in overtime and was routed twice by Peddie. The Storm beat Blair and finished tied for third in the MAPL.
Given the outlook at the season’s start, it was a good year for this team of 11. “Coach Mo had a way of making us want to be at every practice and really improve each other’s game,” Dobish said. And that bodes well for the future of this program.
-- by Remy Wheat ’08
-- photos by Sandie Cubit