HADLEY – Hopkins Academy’s boys’ basketball team isn’t the biggest one around, nor are they the oldest. But the Golden Hawks had one goal at the beginning of the season – they wanted to be the fastest. 

“The first three practices, we were just running up and down all day. Our goal was to be the fastest team in our league,” Hopkins’ James Fitzgibbons said. “At first it was really tough, but I knew it’d pay off.” 

Hopkins has raced out to a 6-0 record this season, picking up its sixth straight victory in a revenge game against Hampshire League South foe Drury on Thursday night. The Golden Hawks managed to outpace the Blue Devils all evening long, something that head coach Jim Hart knew would be important for his team going into this season. Last year’s top performers Andrew Ciaglo and Colin Earle graduated and left a gaping hole in the team’s lineup. The starters this season have been able to fill their shoes, but a shorter bench than usual means they’ll need to play a lot of minutes this season. Hence: conditioning, and lots of it. 

“We realize we weren’t too deep with all our guys, and so I said we're gonna press a little bit, we're gonna have to be in shape. So we do a lot of our drills, our basketball drills are based on conditioning,” Hart said. “I'm not one of those coaches that just runs to run. We do drills incorporated on how we play, the style of play up and down the floor. That's kind of our identity right now is we like to push the ball.” 

The Golden Hawks are fast, racing up one end of the court for a fast break layup before getting back on defense quickly. Their aggressive pace isn’t solely limited to their speed – they’re just as fierce when it comes to breaking up passing lanes and forcing turnovers. That effort is lead primarily by upperclassmen James and Patrick Fitzgibbons, two of the team’s starters this year. 

“That's what Coach Hart preaches is just running the floor and playing hard defense. Defense leads the offense,” Patrick Fitzgibbons said. 

Replacing Ciaglo and Earle has very much been a group effort for the Golden Hawks. Besides the Fitzgibbons brothers, Hopkins is relying on seniors Cody West and Cameron Wade along with freshman Teddy Cyr for the majority of their minutes. All five have committed to the team’s fast-paced style of play, and their chemistry on and off the court has been strengthened by team bonding at Chili’s and their commitment at practice.

“We [graduated] 40 points (a game) last year. So coming into the season, we're going to try to figure out where can we get those 40,” Hart said. “I made a pact with the three guards Cody, Patrick and Teddy – those guys have to have good games. They can balance, it doesn't have to be you know, 30-40 points a game.” 

With new responsibilities comes a learning curve – it’s still early in the year, and everyone is still adjusting to expectations, particularly the younger players. But everybody came into this season ready to step up, and so far, they’ve exceeded expectations as they continue to grow.

“James played AAU all summer and so he's got a little experience now. Cam put on 20 pounds, he's coming along now, he's got a little fire in his belly. James and Patrick are just part of what we need to do. They know that they know their roles for sure,” Hart said. “Teddy plays spring, summer, winter – he plays all the time, so you know he's a gamer. Teddy's a freshman… playing older, but mentally a freshman, but he's always asking me questions in practice.” 

For now, everything’s clicking for the Golden Hawks, and they hope to keep it that way. They’re staying focused on the next game ahead of them and doing their best to stay one step ahead of their opponents. 

“(We want to) stay focused, keep our bodies healthy and just keep running,” Patrick Fitzgibbons said.

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