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Photo by Hans Hallgren

MCHS girls basketball coach Craig Mortensen demonstrates a perimeter drill Wednesday at the high school. The girl's team started practice Nov. 5.

Step in to the Moffat County High School gymnasium at about 6 p.m. this week - or next week, or the week after - and what you'll see closely resembles a shift change at the local power plant.

Out goes the boys basketball team and in comes the girls.

Despite the hoopsters not wearing steel-toed boots, hard hats or gloves, they are entering the gym to go to work.

And right now - during the basketball preseason - is when they will find their work the most difficult.

The girls team hit the hardwood Nov. 5.

"The girls are working really hard right now," girls coach Craig Mortensen said. "We are basically working on three things: fundamentals, putting in our team system and conditioning."

The boys team began workouts Monday.

"They got a real attention getter in the first practice," boys coach Steve Maneotis said. "We had a really intense practice, in terms of guys going "holy cow," toward the intensity. "Let's just say the trash can was used the first day of practice by many."

Despite both coaches putting their teams through tough defensive workouts, stair climbing and - of course - shooting drills, now is when optimism for the year ahead is at its highest.

"It's exciting" when basketball workouts begin, Mortensen said. "The past few years, we've kind of had a more experienced team coming back, so you pretty much knew what you were going to get. Now we have a lot of girls that haven't started on varsity, so it will be challenging and very exciting."

The girls and boys teams essentially swapped roles this off-season.

Last year saw the girls team dominated by senior-laden experience, while Maneotis was feeling out his team in his first year at the helm.

This year, the boys team returns the experience, while Mortensen must get acquainted to a new roster.

"The difference is we have a great core of returning seniors and juniors that understand our expectations," Maneotis said. Last year "we didn't have a summer. We come in to a year last year, where they were just trying to learn how to say Maneotis, let alone what we expect."

Both coaches said their respective teams have come out hard this season and haven't shied away from the work.

"This is our sixth practice, and let me tell you, the girls are enthused and excited to play basketball," Mortensen said. "These girls have won at all levels, freshman, JV - so that's a positive. They believe in themselves. They are winners that believe they are going to win."

To Maneotis, it's almost as though the team never stopped hitting the hardwood.

"It's like we haven't missed a practice," he said. "It seems like we picked up where we left off. It's always a good feeling when we have eight to 10 players every night, before the season even started, asking us to get in the gym, asking us if we can start now, instead of hoping we have enough people to show up to do anything.

"We're really pleased with the attitude of everybody that's out this year."