Colton Bridges, Filling the Gap
By Seth Manus
When you walk into the office of the new head coach of the Lady Raiders basketball team you’ll notice something on his desk. Something a little bit out of the ordinary. A stack of washers. To most, these washers are simply a few pieces of metal. To Colton Bridges, these washers represent his goal for this upcoming season: to make the state playoffs. Something that hasn't been achieved by the Lady Raiders since 2020.
On the first day of practice, Coach Bridges met with his team and gave each member one of those washers. He took them to the gym and asked what purpose a washer serves. “It fills a gap”, he told them. Together, Bridges and his new team stood beneath the state playoff banner.
“What’s missing on this banner right here?” Bridges asked. Then he counted off each of the years the Lady Raiders missed the playoffs, showing them the empty gap.
“You have to be the team to fill that gap,” said Bridges.
On the path to fill the gap, Bridges said there are two words he wants the team to live by: “energy and effort”. These are the core values upon which Bridges plans to build his program.
“If you give energy and effort, we’ll be successful,” said Colton. He expects this from the team “in the classroom” and “on the floor”.
From the very beginning, Bridges began instilling these values by changing the culture.
“We’re gonna work harder,” he said, emphasizing the number one thing he wants from his team.
Before this summer, none of the girls had been in the weightroom as a basketball team, he said. That was immediately changed. He added drills specifically made to require his athletes to work hard. “No Babies Allowed” or ‘N.B.A. Rebounding’ is one of those drills. This drill has no fouls or out-of-bounds and it forces players to score in order to complete it.
“If you're not giving energy in that, you're gonna lose and you’re gonna get your tail kicked," said Colton when talking about his drills that require toughness.
This motto of “energy and effort” doesn’t apply exclusively to his players. The new coach extends this expectation towards himself and his coaching staff through “honesty and accountability”. The coaches have to show that in themselves to get the players to buy in, he said.
“I have a great coaching staff right now with Sydney Dixon and John Spinks,” said Colton. “Every single day we are showing that.”
From the start he has seen the energy and effort from his athletes. Their work has been “outstanding”, said Bridges. Within the first week he had 17 girls sign up for 4-on-1s.
Bridges said the players are “hungry and they want to win,” when talking about the desire in his team. “There hasn't been a single day where I’ve had less than 15 girls at practice.”
He also highlighted the support of parents, other coaches and administration that has helped him adjust to the new position. Newly appointed athletic director Chris Smith has been “outstanding”, according to Bridges. He also received some advice from varsity boys head coach Bryan Bird saying Colton would “learn more in the next year than his entire coaching career”.
“I’m super excited,” said Bridges when talking about this upcoming season and beyond. “I think we have a chance to do something special.”
Bridges says he chose to become a coach because he can “hopefully make an impact in kids’ lives through the game he loves”.
Colton Bridges has been in the world of coaching basketball for eight of the past nine years at four schools, including Stephens County High School, Franklin County Middle School, Hart County High School and Madison County High School, respectively.
“Fill the gap” is this team's motto and that is what those washers and Colton Bridges are here to do, to fill the gap of the playoff drought for the Madison County Lady Raiders basketball team.
A player’s shoes keep a washer in the laces as a reminder of the goal for the upcoming season. Photo/Seth Manus
Photo/Seth Manus