ABOVE MAP:At 4:30 p.m. at Eastern Florida’s Fred Gay Golf Academy Driving Range on SR 524 in Cocoa golfers from Brevard County high schools will benefit from the expertise of the Eastern Florida State College’s men’s team in the inaugural NJCAA National Golf Day on Friday.
BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA – Golfers from Brevard County high schools will benefit from the expertise of the Eastern Florida State College’s men’s team in the inaugural NJCAA National Golf Day on Friday.
The event will be held beginning at 4:30 p.m. at EFSC’s Fred Gay Golf Academy Driving Range on SR 524 in Cocoa.
Boys and girls high school teams will be split into five groups and work in a rotation with EFSC golf team members around five stations addressing basic short game; greenside bunker play; fairway iron shots; tee shots; and putting.
EFSC head coach Jamie Howell will work with high school coaches discussing college recruiting and training techniques.
For more information on the event contact Howell at howellj@easternflorida.edu or call 321-504-2073.
Revamped Women’s Basketball Team Opens Season Saturday
BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA – Eastern Florida women’s basketball coach Jim Grimes asks four things of his players: Play tough, play hard, play smart, play together.
If they can do that within the process he lays out Grimes believes his team can be successful.
Jim Grimes
“We don’t talk a lot about winning and losing,” Grimes said.
“I don’t want the team to get down when on the scoreboard we’re not doing as well as maybe they would like. We talk about doing those four things, playing those four traits out on the court and off the court.”
With that in mind the Titans embark on their 2014-15 journey at 2 p.m. Saturday as they host the Webber International junior varsity on the Melbourne Campus.
Jessica Doyle
Admission is free.
WHITE OUT NIGHT SET MONDAY
The Titans follow their opener with a 5:30 p.m. Monday matchup in Melbourne against Hillsborough Community College and fans are encouraged to wear white for “White Out Night.”
They then play seven games on the road, not returning home until Dec. 9 against Florida State College Jacksonville.
Grimes enters his second season at the helm, finishing 7-23 last season, a four-game improvement over 2012-13 despite playing the second half of the season with only seven players.
Rachelle Aupont
Depth isn’t an issue this season as Grimes has 16 players.
Returnees expected to play key roles are co-captains 5-foot, 7-inch guard and sharpshooter Jessica Doyle of Palm Bay, Florida and Heritage High, and 5-9 guard/forward Rachelle Aupont of Orlando, Florida and Edgewater High along with 5-3 guard Deja Bradshaw of Miami and American Senior High; 6-foot forward/guard Kristina Bugarski of Belgrade, Serbia and The Rock School in Gainesville, Florida; 5-7 point guard Rhaven Kemp of Jackson, Tennessee and Liberty Tech High; and 5-5 guard Alex Wilhelm of Ocala, Florida and Vanguard High.
Kristina Bugarski
Doyle was nationally ranked as a three-point and free-throw shooter last season. She scored 575 points, good for 17th in the nation, and averaged 19.2 points per game, good for 20th.
New arrivals are 5-11 guard Amber Daniels of Murfreesboro, Tennessee and the Middle Tennessee Heat; 5-5 freshman guard Erin DiMeglio of Fort Lauderdale, Florida and South Plantation High; 5-10 forward/center Ebony Griffin of Miami, Florida and American Senior High; 5-8 point guard G’neesha Johnson of Stuart, Florida and Martin County High; 5-10 forward/guard Chelsea Long of Palm Bay, Florida and Palm Bay High; 5-7 guard/forward Crystal Townsend of Cape Coral, Florida and Cape Coral High; 5-8 guard Paola Vazquez of Ciales, Puerto Rico and Florida Air Academy; 6-4 forward/center Jovana Vukovic, of Bar, Montenegro and Florida State College Jacksonville; 5-3 freshman guard Brittany Wells of Melbourne, Florida and Conway High; and 5-4 guard BriAna Whatts of Orlando, Florida and Timber Creek High.
The Titans open their FCSAA Southern Conference schedule on Jan. 3 at Indian River State College. EFSC plays conference foes defending champion St. Petersburg College, Indian River, Palm Beach State, Miami Dade College and Broward College three times each.
The 2 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 31 home game against Miami Dade will be telecast live on WEFS-TV and streamed live at www.njcaatv.com/efsc
EFSC finished 3-12 in conference last season. But that was then.
“I’m very excited about this season,” Grimes said.
“We have some really good freshmen to combine with a lot of experience we have returning. It’s a good group.”
And a group becoming accustomed to Grimes’ method of coaching.
“Our practices are tough, they are designed that way for a purpose,” Grimes said.
“We want the games to almost be the easy part.
“We do talk a lot about details. The little things are important as John Wooden said, ‘Building a championship teams is a result of doing a lot of little things well.’ We do emphasize doing things right. There is no small thing.”
And that’s vital because there are few small challenges on Eastern Florida’s back-breaking schedule.
“In order to be the best, you push yourself, you do have to play against the best,” Grimes said.
“We have not shied away from that. I think even this year we are playing a tougher schedule than we did last year. We are going to face some to the best teams in the country. That’s going to be a great opportunity.”
The Titans’ schedule includes games at Chipola College, which finished last season ranked fourth in the nation; against Gulf Coast State which was ranked fourth early last season; FSCJ, which was ranked 13; St. Petersburg, which was ranked 14th; and Palm Beach, which was ranked 23
But Grimes isn’t daunted.
“We are going to be high energy, we going to be exciting,” he said.
“We’ve got a lot of new players. We’ve got a lot of talent. I think people will be very surprised at the level of basketball they will see.”
The event will be held beginning at 4:30 p.m. at EFSC’s Fred Gay Golf Academy Driving Range on SR 524 in Cocoa.
The Titans open their FCSAA Southern Conference schedule on Jan. 3 at Indian River State College. EFSC plays conference foes defending champion St. Petersburg College, Indian River, Palm Beach State, Miami Dade College and Broward College three times each.
