Women's Basketball Summer Session Recap
8/20/2014 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. - Now in his second season as the Seton Hall University head women's basketball coach, Anthony Bozzella noticed a lot of differences in his team during its annual summer training session.
This year's team features a lot of new faces, six new members of the team not including the addition of point guard Jordan Mosley (Orlando, Fla.), who will be eligible this season after transferring from La Salle in 2013. The Pirates return a pair of the BIG EAST's leading scorers in graduate point guard Ka-Deidre Simmons (Newark, N.J.) and junior wing Tabatha Richardson-Smith (Bay City, Texas), and that consistency in the lineup, along with now understanding the expectations of the current coaching staff led to a very productive summer.
"I think that our kids have great expectations and a great understanding of what we want," said Bozzella. "We were able to do a small bit of skill work, but for the most part we let the team play a little bit, have fun, and start to learn each other. We have a decent amount of new kids, and while most of them are veteran new kids, I wanted our three freshmen to get acclimated as well and all of that turned out perfectly."
In addition to on court training and academic responsibilities, the Pirates primarily focused on strength training and conditioning. As Simmons said, the summer is when you try to get stronger and faster. Once the season is underway it is not possible to focus on all of the conditioning elements you can incorporate during the summer months, which go a long way toward establishing success in the winter.
"My individual goal is to get as strong as possible, as fast as possible," said Simmons. "I really try to work on my mechanics so that during the season everything comes easily. As far as the team goals, everyone is working on the same thing. They want to get stronger; the freshmen want to get familiar with the workouts and techniques. It is really good having everyone here to work together."
Once again the Pirate Sports Network is able to provide an inside look into the Pirates' offseason regimen, with insight into weight training, conditioning, and summer skills training.
Seton Hall opens the 2014-15 season against Rider in the Preseason WNIT on Friday, Nov. 14, at 12 p.m. Season tickets are on sale now and are just $45 for the season. To purchase, call the SHU Athletic Ticket Office at (973) 275-HALL (4255) or e-mail tickets@shu.edu.
