Southmoore's Erin Bean – Character Counts presented by Eskridge Honda

Written by John Tranchina

After enduring a difficult 3-20 record last season, Southmoore has a new coach, a new system and a new outlook, and Erin Bean embodies the new team attitude. The junior has taken on a leadership role and is optimistic about the upcoming year

“With a new coach and everything, it’s a new atmosphere, things are looking really positive,” said Bean, who averaged 11.6 points per game last year. “We’re a pretty young team. We have two seniors that are on varsity, so we are definitely young and kind of inexperienced. I am a returning starter from the past two years, so I definitely am in a leadership position right now, just being one of the older ones, more experienced. I love being a leader, being an example for the younger girls, being someone they can look up to.”

“The one word I would say that makes Erin so special is her versatility,” said Southmoore’s first-year coach, Shawn Clark. “She’s comfortable playing out on the perimeter, where she’s an above-average shooter, and in the paint where she can play facing the basketball or with her back to it. Erin is very coachable and a great teammate.”

Bean acknowledged that she’s worked on trying to become a complete player, and believes that the Sabercats are poised to enjoy a much better year than 2016.

“I don’t want to only be able to do just one thing, I want to fill multiple roles and not be limited but help my team in a lot of different ways,” said Bean, who is also involved with student council at Southmoore and does a lot of work with her church youth group. “One thing that Coach Clark is really stressing is our defense and he just pushes us to work hard, and even though our offense may not travel every game, our defense will. Every game we’re going to show up and we’re going to work hard. We kind of have a new hashtag, and it’s #whynotus. That’s really motivational for me and for our team. We may be a little inexperienced and a young team, but why not us?”