- April 24, 2024
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Seabreeze's Jordan Glenn shoots a layup against Deltona. Photo by Ray Boone
Seabreeze's Shaniya White dribbles the ball against Deltona. Photo by Ray Boone
Seabreeze's Tonila Jackson brings the ball up the court. Photo by Ray Boone
Seabreeze's Tonila Jackson drives to the hoop for a layup. Photo by Ray Boone
Seabreeze's Jordan Glenn looks to pass the ball. Photo by Ray Boone
Seabreeze coach John Rogers watches his team from the bench. Photo by Ray Boone
The Sandcrabs' Ria Gupta shoots a 3-pointer against Deltona. Photo by Ray Boone
Seabreeze's Jordan Glenn drives in for a layup against Deltona. Photo by Ray Boone
Seabreeze’s girls basketball team won just one game during the 2018-19 season — a 67-26 victory over a winless Matanzas team on Jan. 30. The Sandcrabs, in turn, lost 17 games.
But where others saw despair, John Rogers saw a glimmer of hope for the future.
“I knew they were better than that,” Rogers said. “I knew we had to encourage them. They’ve been beaten down for so long that that’s all they knew.”
Rogers has had many stops in his time as a high school basketball coach. He was an assistant coach at Flagler Palm Coast, Pine Ridge and Calvary Christian, and was a head coach at Warner Christian. His most recent job was as an assistant girls basketball coach at Trinity Christian.
Rogers heard of the job opening at Seabreeze this past summer, applied and was hired. He’s the Sandcrabs girls basketball team’s third coach in three years.
Five games into the 2019-20 season, the Sandcrabs already have three wins: a 74-31 victory in the season-opener over First Baptist Christian Academy, a 53-19 win over Taylor and a 63-19 win over Deltona.
“Of course everyone wants to win districts and go on to states, but we’re a work in progress.”
JOHN ROGERS, Seabreeze head coach
“We’re going to win with dignity and we’re going to lose with dignity,” Rogers said. “We want to teach them the fundamentals and to teach them to be a better person after basketball. We want them to be better human beings.”
The Sandcrabs are led by Tonila Jackson and Samantha Roberts. They said the last few seasons have been tough on the team, but they’re looking forward to improving throughout this season and creating a blueprint for success at Seabreeze.
“It’s just all about not being selfish and communicating with each other,” Jackson said.
Roberts added: “We’ve grown a lot in the past few years. I just want to keep winning and keep having fun.”
