by Grace George |

“If there is no struggle, there is no progress.”-Fredrick Douglas. The Liberty Women’s Basketball team has been through many struggles. Over the past year, the team has overcome numerous hardships including injuries, unwanted post-season results, tough practices, embarrassing losses and a whole new varsity coaching staff.

Noah Simpson, former Bashor High School head coach, is now a teacher at the Liberty Academy. Heather Wansing is a first grade teacher at Manor Hill Elementary School, a 2007 LHS graduate and a state champion. Together, they have taken over Liberty Women’s Basketball as the varsity head coach and the varsity assistant coach. They have high expectations for this season and future seasons.

“I want to win a State Championship,” Simpson said. “A lot of growth and success will come out of this season, but most importantly we will have fun.”

This is Simpson’s 10th year coaching and he wants to make it a good one. He is not the only one with high expectations for the season.

“We are going to win a state title,” junior Taylor Wetzel said. “Everything is so different from last year but I think it will push us to have better results.”

Moving from one town to another is a hard thing to do. Leaving friends, jobs, and sometimes even family doesn’t make it any easier, but Simpson believed the move was the right thing to do.

“I love Bashor and everyone in it. It’s so different because over there, it’s a small town where everyone knows everyone and Liberty just seems so huge to me,” Simpson said. “I made the decision to move because I saw an opportunity for personal growth and Liberty has a very strong tradition that I wanted to be a part of.”

With a lot of adversity last season, the team needed something to change.

“Simpson is a really nice guy and he adds a sense of unity to our team that we seemed to lack at times last year,” junior Abbie Gentrup said. “He tells you how to fix what you’re doing wrong instead of just telling you you’re wrong.”

Gentrup isn’t the only player that enjoys having Simpson around.

“The main difference from last year to this year is practice is more laid back. Everyone is looking forward to practice, unlike last year where we were under a lot of stress every day,” sophomore Chiarra Franklin said. “Simpson doesn’t put any pressure on us and I love that.”

Though there was a significant change in the coaching staff, not all of the coaches from previous years are different. Junior Varsity coaches Ty Moss and Zach Werner remain as key parts to the program.  Though this is their first year with the new coaches, the men have a positive outlook on this season.

“I really like how clear Simpson is in communication with the players, staff and parents,” junior varsity coach Werner said. “He handles his new responsibilities very well.”

Coach Simpson lives by a simple philosophy, “Plan your work, work your plan.”

“To me, that means to always have a plan, to set goals and to do your best to follow through,” Simpson said. “With that attitude in mind, I think we will come out victorious.”

The girls will turn things around this year and they won’t quit until the job is done. As Simpson said, “Until the final buzzer of our last game goes off, we won’t stop.”