Every new organization goes through its fair share of growing pains, and the Plant City Vipers have been no different. The team completed its second season, and its first fielding two teams. The administration is pleased with the way things went.
The Vipers didn’t win any of the four tournaments they competed in this season, but coaches Wade Rogers and Terry Thompson Jr. say that they’ve seen their players make great strides developmentally and look forward to working with them over the summer.
“Even though we didn’t have the season success we were hoping for, we fought hard and the kids stayed positive throughout,” Rogers says. “Because we played such talented teams, I feel we met our main goal, which was to make our kids better basketball players.”
The high school team posted a 2-2 record in its most recent tournament and made it to the championship game. But it lost to the Polk County Pride, 72-62. The middle school team did get to end its season with a win: a 55-51 grinder over the U’Nec Ballers.
There was also a chance that the team could have finished the season under a different name. The Vipers, a non-profit organization, rely heavily on donations for the players’ equipment and travel costs. But earlier in the season, when there wasn’t as much money coming in, the Lakeland Xpress made an offer to acquire the Vipers.
The Xpress have all of the resources a travel team could want: access to indoor practice facilities, an established internal structure and the resources to field many squads. While the idea was intriguing, it wasn’t something the Vipers’ administration had an inclination to agree to.
“It just didn’t work with our vision,” Reggie Rivers, the Vipers vice president, says.
Plant City chose to remain independent and locally based. The decision appears to have paid off. The vision Rivers and the board often spoke of was to have a competitive, well-run team in the Winter Strawberry Capital of the World to keep talent from slipping away to Lakeland or Brandon — where players have typically gone in the past. The team is now working on further expansions, including adding a girls’ team.
Over the rest of the summer, Rogers and Thompson will continue working with their players, honing fundamentals and building strength to prepare them for high school tryouts. They’re hoping to see the kids grow through their high school programs, and should they come back to the Vipers next summer, get the program its first-ever tournament win.
“I’m sure all of the players are capable of this because I have seen their work ethic, as well as their will to want to improve and win,” Thompson says.
Contact Justin Kline at jkline@plantcityobserver.com.
GET READY FOR NEXT YEAR
Anyone interested in playing or coaching for the Vipers next season, or becoming a team sponsor, can get started by contacting Lili Armatrout at vbpaplantcity@aol.com.