Lil’ Trojans basketball team wins big

On March 11, the Newfield Recreational Lil’ Trojans dribbled their way through back-to-back tournament games and, by the end of the day, secured the championship trophy.

Head coach Ashley Frisbie said she could not be more proud. Frisbie graduated from Newfield High School in 2007 and stayed a part of the community where she now has two daughters, who also attend Newfield schools. Frisbie and her daughters all enjoy basketball.

The Lil’ Trojans are a team of 11, with eight players moving up to Newfield Central School District’s basketball program next season. The recreation center serves as a place for younger kids, who cannot yet participate in school-sanctioned sports, to learn what options there are and how to play before they see middle and high school teams. 

Out of the 11 girls, only five ever played basketball before  those same  girls are the only ones who played a team sport before this basketball season. It took weeks of hard work for the girls to come together as a team, and they managed to do it well. The support of parents and coaches were also important for this to happen.

“It’s really fun to watch the team grow while working on fundamentals and learning how to handle a basketball, dribbling, rebounding and learning different positions and that position is responsible for,” Frisbie said. “After that, teaching them the actual game and putting all the pieces together, seeing how it comes together is really fun.”

The 2022-23 season was also a learning experience for Frisbie. This was her first season as a head coach. She was previously involved with the program as an assistant coach.  

“Assistant coaching was how I got my foot in the door,” Frisbie said. “This year, I was asked to coach the fifth- and sixth-grade girls. They are a group of crazy girls; there are some that know the game of basketball, and then you have girls that have never played basketball in their entire life.”

Frisbie said that she also had two amazing assistant coaches,  Dan Watkins and Chad Rylott, helping her and the team this year. Rylott is also a basketball coach for Ithaca High School but has a daughter on the Lil’ Trojans team.

“It made it a lot more comfortable for me because [the girls and I] were able to learn together,” Frisbie said. “One of the parents is a coach at Ithaca, and he stepped in and was able to teach me how to teach the girls how to play basketball. I learned a lot, and it was awesome that he was willing to do that.”

One of the biggest steps that helped Frisbie was creating a system and practice schedule with Rylott so that the girls could keep learning at practice without wasting time. Unlike school teams, recreational teams practice only two nights for one and a half hours every week. 

However, practice cannot be the only part of the season. Games and tournaments sneak their way into the schedule, whether or not the teams feel ready. 

“The first couple of games were definitely a learning experience. I was nervous, and so were the girls. They didn’t know what they were doing or where they needed to go,” Frisbie said. “But by the end of the game, they pulled it together and had an idea of what they needed to do. We did lose, but it was a huge learning experience and showed them what to expect.”

Frisbie said that Watkins was there every practice to help teach fundamentals, skills and the rules. He was an important part of Frisbie’s and the girls’ learning experience and season success. Their season record was 11–6.

The Lil’ Trojans entered the tournament March 11 with a good record, ready to take on their opponents. They needed confidence as the long afternoon of back-to-back games stood in front of them.

“There were five teams, and the first team we played was Caroline. We won that game 21–9,” Firsbie said. 

The girls were off to a good start. 

Their second game was against South Hill, with Newfield prevailing 10–1. In the championship game, they played Northeast and won 10–8.

“You could tell they were tired, and they were down until the second half. And then, after halftime we had a pep talk and picked their spirits up,” Frisbie said. “We said, ‘We know that you’re tired. You just need to push through these next 16 minutes,’ and they did. They won.”

Frisbie’s hope for next season is that kids will return for another season and bring new players with them to bring community sports back to their pre-COVID levels. She expressed that being part of a team is important for social and personal learning. Participants learn about teamwork, working together and creating friendships.

“It’s huge to be able to coach a team that won in my first season coaching,” Frisbie said. “What makes a good team is a good coach. That makes me feel great, so much so that I will be doing that again next year.”

Only three of the 11 girls on the team will be returning to the recreational team, and Frisbie hopes that next season will be just as fun and educational for the next team. She intends to stay as a head coach. 

Newfield Notes appears every week in Tompkins Weekly. Send story ideas to editorial@vizellamedia.com.

Editor’s note: A slight addition was made to the article on March 23 to recognize the hard work done by the girls themselves to have this successful season. This was done per the recommendation of readers.