The Rivals boys’ winter basketball season may not have finished the way Emanuel Abbott envisioned, but the head coach is adamant in his goal to elevate the basketball program to new heights on and off the court.

As a Port Townsend High alumnus and former point guard who played with the team in three state playoffs back in the ’90s, the love for basketball in Port Townsend runs deep for Abbott.

He coached numerous Little League, junior high, and high school sports before taking the helm as Rivals head coach for the team’s inaugural season as a combined program of athletes from Port Townsend and Chimacum High Schools.

In their first full year, the Rivals ended with a 4-13 overall record, missing the playoffs after a moderately successful season full of wins, losses, and areas of improvement.

“Most of the year we couldn’t put the ball in the basket. It’s basic stuff that we had a hard time with,” Abbott said.

“I’m pleased overall with our group of guys that we have but we have to get better at the little things.”

It’s no secret that Abbott’s team struggled to capitalize on the offensive end of the court in their first season as a combined team, but the head coach said he’s got a lot planned for the off-season.

“We’ve got to get better at the high school level, but to make that happen it starts at the bottom and works its way up,” he said.

“We have a lot going on this summer with open gyms, conditioning and weight training. We also have a summer league in Silverdale that we will be doing, and some tournaments going on.”

While wins are important to the head coach, he wants to build the basketball program out, starting with the youth.

“We will be going back to the beginning of hoops, and that’s with our youth and trying to put on our first annual Rivals youth camp to learn fundamentals of the game and try to [pique] our youth’s interest some more in this game of basketball,” Abbott said.

Building a culture around winning, cooperation, and achievement off the court is his plan, and most of that starts at the coaching level.

Abbott, along with other coaches from Rivals athletic programs, hope to have a coaches summit in the off-season to compare ideas and discuss collaborative routes to success.

“We’re hoping to put on two sessions for a coaches summit for all of our high school coaches and junior high coaches to bounce ideas off of each other and see if we can all get on the same page and help in improving all our youth programs.”

“My idea is, ‘Why can’t all our programs strive to be the best?’” Abbott said.

“Look at our football team who were league champs. Our soccer team went to playoffs; our cross country team did very well, and I believe league champs, also. And then there is our wrestling program that does great every year, sending athletes to Districts, Regionals, and State.

“So for me, it’s not just basketball. I want all of our programs to succeed,” he said.