Seventh grade basketball begins Wednesday, and boy’s coach Patrick Clark and girl’s coach Derrick McDowell are busy preparing their teams for a successful season.

Clark has high expectations this year. Having never coached his players before, he feels confident in their abilities and is excited to see how they perform come game time.

“My goal is to go undefeated,” Clark said. “That’s my goal and I’ve already emphasized it to (the team). But at the end of the day, we’re just going to try to do the best we can, play hard and try to not have turnovers.”

Clark is working on getting the fundamentals for his team down above anything else. As young players, the seventh grade Bearcats are still learning to play the game at a higher level. So Clark is keeping it simple.

“We don’t do a whole lot of what I would call ‘plays’,” Clark said. “We move the ball to the wing, look for you forward and center and try to get them the ball.”

Clark said he felt good about his boys, noting that they have plenty of enthusiasm and everyone is working hard.

Forward Timothy Allison is excited for the season under Clark and also hopes to knock out every opponent. Only playing basketball for two years, Clark is enthused with Allison’s hard work.

“(I want to) win and go undefeated, beat everybody this year,” Allison said.

On the girl’s side, McDowell is also busy going over fundamentals with his team and nailing down the basics of the game.

“They’re very athletic,” McDowell said, “and we’re trying to get a good feel for what they’re doing, and what we want to do for them to be successful.”

McDowell had trained with his players over the summer, introducing some of the bigger fundamentals that would be crucial for the oncoming season.

Having been together for only a couple months, the seventh grade girls are working together well.

“That’s what’s surprising about this group,” McDowell said. “Them having been together for the first time, they really have gelled fast and caught on to what we’re doing.