Meet Coach Dade

Congratulations to Coach Dade for being named the Patriot District Coach of the Year!  He was nominated and selected by his coaching peers. It was an honor to be able to sit down and talk with him about his award and his team.  Please enjoy the results of our conversation below.

Coach Dade has devoted a big portion of his career to coaching basketball.  In the 23 years that he has coached girls basketball, Robinson has been fortunate to have him for 18 years. He also coached for 3 years at Thomas Jefferson High School and 2 years at Lake Braddock Secondary School.  Before he coached at the High School Level, he coached Boys Club Basketball as well as an adult men's league.

He played high school basketball, but I was interested to find out that his primary sport was track and field, where he ran the 400 meters.  In addition to playing high school basketball and running track, Coach Dade was a corner back on his high school football team.

Coach Dade enjoys coaching Girls Basketball because the student athletes are fundamentally sound and he likes to take the time to help them to develop their skill-set.  They are very willing to focus on basics and to perfect them as well as being good listeners and very coachable.  He began this season feeling a little uneasy, because he lost 4 starters and 6 seniors overall from last season's team.  His 21-22 team rose to the high standards set by coach Dade led by a starting line up of one freshman, one sophomore, 2 juniors and one senior point guard, who runs the show and is a good leader in working with her younger teammates. This years' team has a good defense and they press well.  They like to run when they can and they score a lot of points from transitions.  They adeptly execute a simple basic offense and they have a strong duo of post players that, when the are clickin', are hard to defend.

I asked Coach Dade what his most memorable game of this season was, before they won the Patriot District Championship. Over the Winter Break, they played in a Holiday tournament and faced Holy Child Private School.  When Coach Dade scouted them, he was impressed by the fact that they looked like a small college team with lots of talent and they were also very physical.  The Robinson Girls Basketball Team defeated them in the tournament and from that day forward, the team felt like they could compete with anyone.  Since that game, the team has played with increased confidence.

Below is the Patriot District Girls Championship Basketball Team.

• Kristine Pham - Senior Point Guard
• Amelia Simonsen - Junior Guard
• Elizabeth Barry - Sophomore Guard/Forward
• Georgia Simonsen - Freshman Forward
• Caroline Shimp - Junior Forward
• Devon Babcock - Junior Point Guard
• Holly Hill - Senior Forward
• McKenna Huff - Sophomore Guard
• Madison Williams - Senior Guard
• Olivia Byrne - Senior Guard
• Taliah Busby - Senior Guard
• Sophia Yadzinski - Senior Forward
• Nina Davis - Sophomore Guard
• Bella Burton - Junior Center

#GoRams!