This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Sports

Baber Brings Winning Attitude To Ledyard

First Girls' Basketball Head Coaching Job For Colonel Alum

Adam Baber was a winner as a Ledyard High multi-sport athlete. He was a winner as an assistant girls' basketball coach for Stonington High, helping the Bears to a state title in 2005-'06.

The '01 LHS grad now assumes his first head coaching position with the intention of turning the Colonels' girls' basketball team into a winner. And like any successful coach, he's laying the building blocks of defense as the foundation for his winning formula.

"Our style will be to get after it with a hard, aggressive defense, generating our offense from creating turnovers on defense," Baber said.

Find out what's happening in Ledyardwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

It's a blueprint of success he experienced in his coaching apprenticeship under Stonington's Hall of Fame coach Paulla Solar. The Bears won a Class M title, an ECC title, produced the state's Gatorade Player of the Year in Heather Buck and three 1,000-point scorers in Baber's four years there.

"I can't say enough about how much working with a seasoned coach like Paulla Solar furthered my knowledge of coaching," Baber said. "It was the perfect learning opportunity to prepare me to step forward to become a head coach."

Find out what's happening in Ledyardwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Baber takes over for another coach with Stonington connections. Allison (Macca) Reyes directed Ledyard the last four years. After inheriting a one-win team the year before she led the Colonels to two state tournaments, including a 9-12 record last year. Reyes, a former SHS All-State player in the '90s, and her husband welcomed their first child in March, and Reyes resigned to raise her daughter.

"I'm very excited to be back here," Baber said. "We have a good core of returning players who are very athletic and a large freshman class. Allison established a strong foundation, and I want to keep the momentum of turning around the fortunes of female athletics in Ledyard."

Ledyard girls' sports struggled through some lean years in the earlier part of this decade, with many teams, including girls' basketball, struggling in the Eastern Connecticut Conference Large. Ledyard softball won five state titles in the '90s, and soccer and girls' basketball were also strong.

"Talent goes in cycles, but I think we have a solid group of female athletes now at Ledyard," Baber said. "The ECC Large will be difficult as usual. NFA has won the last two Class LL titles, Waterford is always good and East Lyme has a lot of talent."

Senior guard Allison Loy scored in double figures in several games last season. Sara Ewing, Kyle Fustini, Naomi Hutchings and Brittney Humphries also contributed on the varsity level last year, giving Baber an ample array of experienced returnees.

Ledyard opens at St. Bernard 7 p.m. Wednesday.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?