Obstacles are mere annoyances to Woodland hoops

The Woodland High School boy’s basketball program was scheduled to visit Advance this evening, which would not only be an interesting rematch after the Cardinals beat the Hornets 80-78 in stunning fashion on Friday, but it would also provide the Woodland program with yet another challenge to overcome.

However, with the inclement weather, the two teams will meet at a later date, as both schools are closed for the day.

Over the past 13 months or so, the Cardinal program has looked adversity in the face and somehow, mostly been able to scoff. The latest example of this was on Friday, as Woodland fell behind Advance 31-9 in the opening quarter, only to fight back and win.

“It took a little bit for our kids to realize that they could win the game,” Cardinal coach Shawn Kinder said. “Once they started believing, and we changed some things up defensively, and we started to punch the ball inside…”

Belief, confidence, resignation, whatever the case, the Cardinal kids have just dealt with things over the past two seasons with a shrug.

At Christmas time of last season, Woodland coach Noel Trimmer stepped away from the program for health reasons, and Kinder, who is the high school principal and has been in the school system for 14 years, took over, even though he wasn’t even an assistant at the time.

“After Coach Trimmer stepped away,” Kinder recalled, “I came in and followed him just to finish the year out.”

However, things went really, really well in the second half of the 2021-22 season and Kinder stayed on to guide the program.

“Getting coaches,” Kinder said, “especially in some of the rural areas, sometimes it is difficult. I just wanted to be there and give back to the school and the community, and bring some consistency, try to provide some consistency there.”

That hope was fulfilled, and then some.

Following a 2-7 start, the Cardinals closed last season by winning 13 of its final 15 games. This season, Kinder has Woodland at 15-6, with those six losses coming to teams with a combined 82 victories.

“We’ve got kids coming into the program who can do some things,” Kinder said. “We’re trying to get them to believe in each other and play for more than just themselves. I feel like we are sometimes turning the corner with that, but there is still more left in the tank.”

Another obstacle of late has been the health of Kinder.

He was demonstrating in a practice drill recently and tore his Achilles heel, which will take “6 to 9 months” to heal.

“I’ve never done anything like this,” Kinder said. “It has definitely humbled me.”

Kinder explained that he is “up and down the sideline a little bit” – when healthy – but he finds himself mostly sitting now.

“I can’t get up on the sideline,” Kinder said, “but the kids have done a tremendous job responding. The (assistant coaches) have stepped up and we have made it work.”

With five regular-season games remaining, the Cardinals have secured their third consecutive winning season, which followed three consecutive losing seasons.

Kinder, even hobbled, seemingly has the program on the right trajectory.

“We’ve put a run together,” Kinder said of his team winning 9 of its last 10 games. “We’ve had some good games and shown promise, some areas of improvement.

“For the most part, the kids have done well. They have responded well.”

As Woodland basketball, seemingly, always does.