M’s ready to hit the court running with Kennelty

• Casseri returns to guide young Mariners through new season

By Sean Pearson
Homer Tribune
After taking a couple years off from coaching, Homer High School math teacher Mark Casseri returns as head coach of the Mariner boys basketball team for the 2009-10 season.
Casseri coached the M’s a few years ago, and has continued helping out with the middle school basketball program.

“It had nothing to do with basketball. I love the game. To be honest, the biggest reason I took a break from coaching was my blood pressure,” Casseri explained. “But I talked with Doc. Bell, and we figured out that I just need to manage my salt intake. Now that I’ve pretty much cut out all salt, my blood pressure is fine.”
That’s good news for Homer’s basketball program.
Casseri said this year’s team – while relatively young and inexperienced in playing together – is showing a lot of promise.
“We had 31 young men show up for practice on Monday, and I’m hoping we’ll still get a few more rolling in,” Casseri said. “I have to say I’m very pleased with the turnout, as well as the amount of effort they are putting into practice.”
Four seniors return for the M’s this year, including Chris Watry, Norm Anderson, Mark Walsworth and Luke Garvey. Casseri said two foreign exchange students will also step on the court to represent Homer.
Leading the way for the Mariners this year will be big man Devon Kennelty. The 6-foot-7-inch sophomore began dominating Homer’s inside game last year as a freshman, and has spent the summer working on his skills at various basketball camps.
“Devon went to two different basketball camps this summer. One was at Virginia Tech, where he worked with Seth Greenberg,” Casseri said. “I got a chance to watch Devon at camp a bit when I was in the Lower 48. I was impressed with his game, and Seth said he was really pleased with his work ethic.
Casseri said he also got a call from one of the color commentators in the area who asked him why he hadn’t told him about this kid, Kennelty.
Kennelty isn’t the only one with a strong work ethic on the Mariner squad.
“These guys are getting after it out there,” Casseri said. “They are working hard from the very first practice, and never let their intensity up a bit in the two hours we were out there.”
According to the coach, even the younger players were out there encouraging teammates to “work harder, and keep at it.”
“A lot of the sophomores know me from when I helped coach at the middle school, so they understand the intensity of my practices,” Casseri said.
Unlike many high school basketball coaches, Casseri sets aside classroom time during practice a few times a week to talk about the game.
“We had a half-hour meeting last night before practice, and we’ll do that classroom time all season,” he explained. “We go over plays, offensive and defensive goals, and what it means to be a Homer High School athlete.”
Casseri said he considers basketball a thinking-man’s game first and foremost.
With more than 30 players turning out for this year’s team, Casseri said he and Assistant Coach Brent Keene are trying to find someone to take on coaching duties for the C-team.
“We have more than enough players to fill a C-team, but we just don’t have a coach,” Casseri said. “All people need to do is go to the KPBSD Web site and apply online for the job. I think it would really mean a lot to those young guys who are wanting to play. It would be a shame to have so many young athletes interested in playing, and no coach to help them out.”
The Mariners open their season next Saturday with a home game against the Nikiski Bulldogs.

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Posted by Newsroom on Dec 2nd, 2009 and filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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