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12/21/2016 11:00 PMAfter several years of coaching AAU teams and then serving as an interim head coach for Amity last year, Courtney Brinton recently began her debut campaign as the new head coach of the North Branford girls’ basketball team. Courtney takes over for Chris Webster, who amassed more than 500 victories in her tenure with the T-Birds. Those are some big shoes to fill, but Courtney is concentrating on carving out her own path at North Branford.
“I wasn’t as much intimidated as I was excited. Forty years is obviously a long time and she’s had a few championships under her belt, as well. I didn’t plan on comparing myself to her,” says Courtney. “She did great things and I think she started the program and had tons of success. I’m trying not to walk into this season and compare myself to the spot I’m filling. I’m more focused on trying to create successes with my own team and my future with the team.”
Growing up, Courtney was a basketball player who competed for Amity, as well as in the AAU ranks. She then played a year of volleyball in college before transferring to Southern Connecticut State University. It was during that time that Courtney decided to make the move to coaching, instead of continuing with her athletic career.
“I was going to try to play basketball at Southern, but started coaching my sister and her friends, who were in 8th grade,” Courtney says. “From that point on, I was coaching every year and have been coaching different groups of girls in AAU ever since then for the past six years.”
Courtney says that a lot of her coaching philosophy stems from her experience of playing AAU ball. Courtney played for many great coaches in the top-tier program and took away bits and pieces to develop her own style.
“I got to play for multiple coaches who are still coaching today, so I got to pick up and increase my knowledge from playing for them. So I combined a bunch of different skills that they’ve taught me to carry over into my own philosophy for coaching,” she says. “The biggest thing for me is effort and willingness to learn. I really emphasize skill work and developing each individual player. The best player can be the most talented on the floor, but if they’re not trying or buying into the team philosophy, there’s not going to be a spot for them.”
Having played for and coached at Amity, Courtney knows what it’s like go up against big schools that offer fierce competition. Even though the T-Birds won’t be squaring off against those opponents, Courtney knows that there are quality squads in the Shoreline Conference, and so she plans on bringing the same expectations to North Branford that she had for the Spartans.
“My expectations of the girls are the same for all the girls I’ve ever coached, which is a huge plus for them, and they know that,” says Courtney. “I have high expectations for them. The Shoreline Conference is small, but still has competitive teams, so I think my experience with that kind of competition will help us compete with the top teams in our conference.”
North Branford Athletic Director Kory Kevorkian says that Courtney has impressive credentials for a young coach and knows that she’s going to work as hard as she can to put her stamp on the program.
“When she interviewed for the position, I felt that her expertise, knowledge, and passion for the game was really beyond what you would normally expect from a younger coach who is essentially at the beginning stages of her career,” says Kevorkian. “Thus far, she has been working hard to develop a positive culture with the program and she is really doing a good job adjusting to all of the responsibilities required of a head coach.”
It may be a bit strange for North Branford basketball fans to see a new coach on the bench, but Courtney is excited to make this program her own and, hopefully, surprise a few people this year.
“We want to make it out of regular season play and be one of the top finishers in our conference. We don’t want to just do well in our first year. We’d like to get farther than people expect from us,” says Courtney. “In the long term, I want the program to grow. I know there have been number issues recently, so I want to build the program number wise, so people think of us as a successful program.”