BATH

After helping out Kelly LaFountain and the Mt. Ararat High School girls basketball squad last winter, Becky Roak figured out that a head coaching position was certainly on her radar.

With the sudden resignation of Mike Hart at Morse, the 33-year-old Roak will get her chance to run a program once again.

An initial meeting with school administrators and parents turned out well, she thought, and paved the way for her hiring.

“The attitude and energy from the meeting was very positive; they were very excited to have me come in, I guess a breath of fresh air. They seemed excited about my experiences in the past and that I was going to bring them here to Morse.”

Roak has a major undertaking as she takes over a program that went 17-1 in the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference two years ago, but fell to 7-11 last year, the first in Class B for the Shipbuilders.

The Brunswick resident and mother of a young daughter, Grace, knows what’s in store and hopes to hold a couple of practices before a mid- July scrimmage with Brunswick.

She’s held several coaching positions, the most recent a four-year stint at Southern Maine Community College in South Portland. She also served at UMaine-Machias for a year, where she also coached volleyball.

A UMaine-Farmington graduate (where she played basketball and softball), Roak has some hardcourt pedigree.

At SMCC, her team won the Yankee Small College Conference three times, earning a trip to the United States Collegiate

Athletic Association nationals, one year in Oklahoma and two others in Pennsylvania.

The Mt. Ararat experience was a positive one as she watched LaFountain and the Eagles dip into the Eastern Maine Class A tournament waters.

“It was very rewarding, but at the same time it made me realize that I wanted to be back in as a head coach, back making the decisions. Kelly and I had, and have, a great relationship. It was certainly enough for me to stay and be able help the kids out.

“But, it made me realize that I wanted to get back into it and be the head coach.”

“We will miss having Becky this season because she brought some great new ideas and energy to our program,” lauded LaFountain. “She possesses a great knowledge of the game and does a wonderful job teaching the girls the fundamentals.

“Her previous experiences coaching at high levels has prepared her well for this job. Becky has had success at every level and I have no doubt she will continue to have success as a high school varsity coach. Morse has hired a great coach, but they have managed to get an even better person.”

Time to move on

After extensive talks with her partner Mary, family, LaFountain, and friend and Morse coach/teacher Linda Levesque, among others, she knew that if she wanted to achieve the goals of teaching and coaching she had to move on.

An initial meeting with the Morse girls produced a low turnout. Roak was “a little disappointed, but I also realized that it was at the end of school and not having the contact information to get a hold of all of them. There were so many things going on.”

As far as her on-court philosophy, Roak, who has retained jayvee coach Derek Avery (“I think it will bridge the gap from Mike to myself.”), likes the fastpaced game.

“My preference would definitely be run-and-gun, pressure defense, fastbreak offense. But, it would also depend on what I have for personnel. I like an up-tempo type of game versus a slow-itdown, let’s-run-an-offensiveset.

“We’ll definitely have some set plays and things like that, but if we can, I would like to have a fastbreak offense.”

To that end, there is a summer season in place and she hopes to lay down the groundwork.

“I think it’s enough to ease into it, so that the kids can get to know me and I get to know them and see what they have.

“They’re all going to play and get their chance to shine. We’ll see.”

Morse, steeped in basketball tradition, was also appealing in this process.

“That’s another piece that I’m excited about because I really feel the community is very sports-oriented, very supportive of their athletics, so I feel that will be a positive for me coming in.”