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COLLEGE BASKETBALL
The Son Also Rises
Following In The Footsteps Of His
Father, Former Harwich High School and Bridgewater State Star Adam Rose
Is Blossoming Into A Successful Basketball Coach
Eric Adler
SOUTH YARMOUTH — The game is far from
over on this long winter night, and yet Adam Rose has already run the
full gamut of emotions.
One minute, he’s shouting
out instructions with steel-eyed intensity. The next, he’s smiling. A
few moments later, he’s frowning with his arms folded, and a few after
that, he’s clapping and celebrating.
Life on the sidelines, as
the former Harwich High School hoops star has learned, can be a strange
and stirring place. But there’s nowhere else he’d rather be.
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Harwich’s Adam
Rose has coached the D-Y JV boys basketball team the past
three seasons. He led the Dolphins to an 11-9 record this
past winter. ERIC ADLER PHOTO. |
Rose, 25, recently
completed his third season as coach of the Dennis-Yarmouth junior
varsity boys basketball team. He guided the Dolphins to eight wins his
first year and seven his second before leading them to an 11-9 record
this past winter.
“Being a coach,” said Rose, “has a
whole different feel than being a player. It’s something I’m still
trying to get used to, even three years later.”
Well before Rose was “Coach Rose,” he
was an acclaimed all-star at Harwich, a southpaw assassin with a knack
for nailing three’s and driving over defenders. He finished his
three-year varsity career with 1,113 points, one of only six Rough
Riders to crack the millennium mark.
Even then, he was never one to hide his feelings, openly
expressing joy – as when Harwich knocked off archrival Nauset for the
first time in 10 years his sophomore season (he always glowed but never
gloated) – and sorrow – as when Harwich was upset by Cape Tech in the
semifinals of the Division Four south sectionals his senior season.
“I’m just so excited
about the game and to be a part of it that I can’t help but wear my
emotions on my sleeve,” said Rose. “Basketball is the one aspect of my
life where I feel like I can do that.”
One of Rose’s finest and most
demonstrative games in blue and gold came his senior season when he
helped Harwich knock off Norwell, avenging a 41-point loss to the
Clippers earlier that year.
In the stands that night
was Dean Junior College coach Gerry Corcoran, who was there to see his
son, Gerry Jr. (Norwell’s 2,000-point player), put on a typical scoring
show. Instead, he caught a much different act, as Rose’s double-digit
and strong defensive effort so impressed the elder Corcoran that he
recruited Rose right then and there.
Rose spent two seasons at
Dean before moving on to Bridgewater State, where he helped lead the
team to back-to-back 17-win seasons. His final year (2006-2007), he
averaged 16.2 points, four rebounds and two assists per game.
That summer, while volunteering at the
Mid-Cape Hoops School (a clinic for aspiring high school athletes), Rose
was asked by D-Y coach Matt Pernick if he had any interest in taking
over the JV program. Rose immediately accepted the position. After all,
he was never one to pass up an open shot.
“It was definitely tough
at first,” recalled Rose, a fifth-year senior at the time. “I was living
in Bridgewater and coming home every night to coach. I had to have just
as much a commitment to the kids as I did to getting my degree.”
Things are a lot easier
these days for Rose, who earned his bachelor’s in physical education and
works as a paraprofessional at Brewster’s Stony Brook Elementary School.
But he’s just as busy as ever.
On a typical day during
basketball season, Rose is at school by 8:30 a.m. and arrives at D-Y to
help out with the freshmen game at 3 p.m. He then coaches the JV and
assists with the ensuing varsity game, which wraps up around 9 p.m. It
might sound like a lot, but to him, it’s never enough.
To say that Rose loves
basketball is like saying Lance Armstrong loves bike rides or Picasso
loved to paint; the way he talks about the game, with wide eyes and
youthful wonder, makes it sound like basketball is less of an avocation
than a chemical addiction.
Rose is such a bona fide
basketball junkie that during his school vacations from Bridgewater he
would often practice with a few lower high school Cape teams, sharpening
his skills while also culling nuggets of knowledge (drills, plays,
techniques, etc.) he now uses in his everyday practices.
Of course, most of Rose’s
knowledge of Xs and Os comes from his former coach and father, Glenn,
who’s won 400 games and led his teams to 22 post-season appearances
throughout his 27-year career at Harwich and current six-year stint at
Chatham.
“On any given day,” said
Rose, before stopping to correct himself, “actually on every given day
there’s something basketball being talked about between myself and my
father.”
The two men, who rang up
pinball point totals during their playing days at Harwich (Glenn, a 1962
grad, had 1,594 points), ironically talk more about how to prevent
baskets than how to produce them.
“My dad is a defensive
coach and I model myself after him,” said Rose. “We talk about a wide
range of things, like where guys need to be in the zone and how they
should rotate during the press. It doesn’t just go one way, he asks for
my help too. That’s the funny thing. I’m like, don’t you already know
everything? What are you asking your 25-year-old son for?”
One thing Rose has
learned from his old man is that it takes time to climb the coaching
ladder. “My dad didn’t start at the top,” said Rose. “He was a JV coach
at Barnstable for a few years, but he got to where he wanted to go to,
and that’s the path I look to take for myself.”
While he may be something
of a chip off the old block, let it be said that Rose isn’t using
nepotism or name recognition to achieve status or success; his teams are
his own, and he doesn’t rule with an iron fist. Rather, he takes a
progressive approach that favors positive reinforcement over old-school
antics like berating players to hammer home a point.
“I still consider myself
a player and try to be a captain on the sidelines” said Rose. “I feel
like I still hold the same leadership qualities I did as a player and
that’s what I try to give to my guys. It’s not a dictatorship. I’m not
out there to tell them what to do and make them do it. I want them to be
comfortable and grow as players.”
To that end, Rose has
been a big hit.
“Coach Rose is a great
motivator, he brings out the best in everyone and gets us going in the
locker room before the game,” said D-Y junior Justin Clark. “Whenever I
have a problem, like when I’m struggling with my shot, he’s the guy I
can turn to. He’s like a big brother. He’s always pushing you and can
always count on him whenever you need something.”
For Rose, who plays once
a week in a South Shore-area men’s league, using his mind and his mouth
to win a game is a constant challenge that requires a lot of restraint.
“There are times when you
want to run out there like Superman and take off your shirt and tie and
change into a jersey and check yourself into the game, but you can’t do
that,” said Rose. “You have to fight it. You have to stay relaxed and
ask yourself, what do you want from these five guys on the floor. But
that’s what basketball is all about – learning. I learned how to play
and now I’m learning how to coach.”
For the most part, Rose has succeeded
in getting his players to carry out his plan, especially in the season
finale this year when D-Y defeated Atlantic Coast League rival Nauset to
cement the burgeoning coach’s first winning season.
To ascend the .500 mark,
the junior Dolphins used a flex, motion-style offense, one that Rose
said “has been around since basketball was invented. It’s not going to
surprise anybody, but it gets the kids to move, set screens and be in
the spots they need to be in for rebounding or jump shots. It teaches
them fundamentals of basketball.”
Rose’s teaching has made an impact at
the next level, as many of his pupils helped the varsity qualify for
post-season for the first time since the 2006-2007 season.
“Adam is really connected
with the kids and his loyalty to the school and program have been
unmatched,” said Pernick. “To have a guy like that as your JV coach, who
was an excellent high school and college player and is still so
passionate about the game and wants to share that with the kids, makes
me one of the luckiest guys on the Cape.”
Above all, Rose’s finest
quality is his inextinguishable fire, which burns as bright now as it
did when he played. Maybe even brighter.
“The best part is seeing
how much these kids enjoy it and how much they want it,” said Rose.
“When you see the emotions of these kids, whether it’s the excitement of
a win or disheartenment of a loss, you just enjoy being able to say
these kids really do care. Basketball has a lot to do with life and
playing the game has helped me be a better player and person. That’s
what I’m trying to do for these kids.”
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Hoops Stars
Test Their Mettle At The Next Level
by Eric Adler
CHATHAM — After graduating from Chatham
High School as the all-time leading scorer in the history of the girls
basketball program in 2008, Taryn van Esselstyn thought her hoops career
might be over.
Two years later, she’s
back on the hard court and flourishing as a freshman forward on the City
College of New York Women’s basketball team.
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| Chatham’s Taylor Masaschi, a
freshman on the Brown University Women’s Basketball Team, is
learning the ropes. PHOTO COURTESY OF BROWN UNIVERSITY
ATHLETIC DEPARTMENT. |
Van Esselstyn, who took a year off from
athletics while at Coastal Carolina last year, started 20 of 24 games
for CCNY and averaged 10.0 points and 9.6 rebounds per game for the Lady
Beavers this season. She also came up with 31 steals (six in one game)
and 11 blocked shots.
Van Esselstyn scored 16 points in her
collegiate debut against Drew University. She led the team in scoring on
four occasions, and in rebounding on nine occasions, including a
17-rebound effort against Lehman College.
Van Esselstyn finished her first season
of college ball on a high note, matching a career-high 21 points and
collecting 12 boards in CCNY’s two-point loss to Hunter College. The
Lady Beavers, who will return all but one player, finished the season
9-17.
Van Esselstyn’s partner in crime at
Chatham, Taylor Masaschi, also cut her teeth at the collegiate level
this season as a freshman on the Division One Brown University Women’s
Basketball team.
Masaschi, who eclipsed van
Esselstyn as Chatham’s all-time leading scorer with 1,400 points, made
her way into 20 games for the Bears (8-20, 5-9 Ivy League) this season.
A big fish in a small pond
at Chatham, Masaschi is still a big fish – just in a bigger pond in
Providence. But she’s taken it all in stride despite spending more time
on the bench than the court this year.
“Coming from a small
school and having to start all over again was a significant transition,”
said Masaschi. “There’s a big learning curve because everything moves so
much faster. But everyone at Brown has been so welcoming and helpful.
It’s eased the transition.”
On a team replete with
veteran players, Masaschi was no longer the go-to-girl this season,
which forced the former Chatham star to develop and enhance other parts
of her game.
“My role is to do the
basic things, to play defense, anticipate passes, be strong under the
basket and box out,” said Masaschi. “On offense, I still look to shoot
if I’m open, but I also look to drive and kick out. I try to work as
hard as I can and give as much effort as I can.”
Masaschi, who’s taking
five classes (one more than the requisite four per semester) has a month
off before rejoining the team for its post-season workouts.
“It’s been a great
experience,” she said. “I feel like I’ve grown up and learned how to
manage my time and balance both academics and athletics.”
Harwich resident Caleigh
Crowell, who played her freshman year for Harwich High and was a prep
star at Worcester Academy, is a freshman forward on the College of
Charleston Women’s Basketball team in South Carolina.
Crowell, who was voted
rookie of the year her freshman season at Worcester and MVP her
sophomore, junior and senior seasons, played in 23 games for Charleston
this year. She averaged 2.0 points per game for the Cougars, who
finished 19-10 overall.
3/11/10 |
