The women’s basketball team has welcomed a new basketball coach this year and has improved their record in the new season.

Dan Brown has coached basketball at different schools for a total of 16 years. He said that he coached basketball at Padua Franciscan High School for the past three years and that he was excited about the job opportunity at Revere. Brown reflected on how he is adjusting to the change and what he likes about the new position at the school.

“Everyone told me how much of a family atmosphere Revere is and . . . I’m really getting to experience it this year. Everyone is so supportive here and all the girls get along, [which] is not always the case in sports. We’ve also had some success which makes [my experience so far] better. . . . Everyone seems to root for each other and that’s kind of rare at some schools so it’s really nice to see that,” Brown said.

Co-captain and fourth-year player Grace Hete explained how Brown fits into the team, and how he has changed some of the team’s procedures and focus.

“[Brown] is teaching us to be the best athlete that we can be and he’s pushing us to excel in our roles. . . . [He wants] us to push the ball and run more [rather than] just slow down, so we’ve been a team that has been able to fast-break up and down a lot better than previous years,” Hete said.

Brown expanded on the changes he has made to the team’s mindset and game plan this year.

“We’re playing a little bit of a different style than last year . . . we push the ball a little bit more in transition, run a lot of different defenses and mix in a lot of zones . . . [because] it’s what I felt fit our personality. We changed our mindset a little bit [because] . . . the girls went through a bit of a rough season last year. . . . I think we lacked a lot of confidence this summer so we talked a little bit about trusting our own abilities and we’ve been able to do that [so far],” Brown said.

Anna D’Amico, also a fourth year player on the team, described some of the accomplishments of the team so far in the season regarding their performance and record.

“We’re having a really good season compared to last year [which] was more of a building year and we didn’t do very well. We won a total of 5 or 6 games out of 23 [last year] . . . but we bounced back this year. Our record is 9-3 right now and it’s completely different [this year]. We worked really hard in the off-season to get where we are now and all of our hard work is really paying off,” D’Amico said.

Hete added to the changes made from previous years in regards to mindset.

“We’re playing more as a team this year. In previous years, it was more individual, but this year we’re able to get each other the ball and everybody’s able to get shots up and play pretty much equal minutes,” Hete said.

Brown expressed his overall goal and mindset for the team as the new coach and included how he believes they can perform to the best of their ability.

“We need to control the things that we can control, and for us that’s our energy, our effort and our focus and if we can do those things on a nightly basis, then everything else will fall into place. . . . My goal for the end of the season is that we continue to do that and we continue to work hard,” Brown said.

The team’s next game is at home on Friday, February 22 for their senior night  versus Tallmadge. Seniors on the team include Anna D’Amico, Julia Effinger, Grace Hete, Olivia Kovitch, Taylor Rinn and Jess Vari.