Bralley Named 3C All-District Coach of the Year

FCHS varsity basketball Coach Heath Bralley was recently named the 3C Coach of the Year for the Jefferson District. He has been coaching for four years and says he’s been working on improving himself as a coach while encouraging his players to success. This year, Bralley oversaw a state championship-bound team that made it all the way to Regionals on Feb. 21 before falling to Charlottesville 58-59.

He noted that a key part of having a winning team is listening, in addition to playing hard. “I feel this season was a success, overall. While the season didn’t seem like a success at the exact moment of conclusion with how and when it ended, I think when we look back on the season as a whole, it was a success,” said Bralley. “We won the most regular season games that Fluvanna has won in about 10 years, and gave ourselves a chance to move on in the postseason,” he added.

Already looking ahead to next season, Bralley noted, “We are losing a bunch of great people to graduation. They set the bar to reach and raise in the future. He said he is already laying the ground for a new team for next year and wants to get them ready as soon as possible. For example, they will soon start after-school conditioning or pre-school weightlifting.

“I prepare by doing offseason workouts [which will give] me an idea of who will come out for the team, and then organizing possible strategies from those workouts,” he said. He added that “Every year the basketball coach has to adjust the philosophy of the team to fit the team’s personnel. It is hard to say what changes will be made year to year until I get an idea of the team members,” he said.

With this year’s team having eight seniors (out of 14 players), that will leave a lot of spots for next year’s varsity team to sprout. Bralley is hoping one of the older teammates will step in to be a leader. One possibility is Chazz Barksdale-White, a junior and point guard who had a solid season.

Coach Bralley also has plans for strengthening the team’s fan base. “Next year I hope to have a student leader to organize a student section. More students will come to the game if we are winning,” he said.