Centauri

In 2003, the Sanford Indians won the 2A Colorado State Championship, and Kyle Forster was named the Rocky Mountain News 2A Player of the Year. Kyle happens to be the son of Dave Forster, head coach of the Centauri Lady Falcons. Coach Forster noticed a huge difference in Kyle’s shot between his junior and senior year. “The biggest difference in Kyle’s shot was his arch,” Forster stated. So, he asked his son what he was doing different, and his son explained, “I’m just on the ‘Gun’, Dad.” Sanford high school had just purchased a “Gun”, by Shoot A Way, in 2002, and the Centauri Coach did exactly the same in 2004. Since that time, the Centauri Lady Falcons have achieved a 97-23 overall record at the varsity level, while posting an impressive 84-6 record in junior varsity competition. This includes 4 straight Colorado state tournaments, 3 Elite 8 finishes, a 2006 State Championship, and a Colorado State Coach of the Year award for Dave Forster that same year.

While at Centauri, Coach Forster has always employed an aggressive style of full-court pressure defense, but he believes the “Gun” added an entirely different dimension to his high-octane style of play. Forster explains, “The gun made a huge difference in our overall philosophy of pressure defense. Now, with the 3 point shot added to our arsenal, we had pressure offense.” In 2005, the Lady Falcons led the 3A classification in 3 point shots made, and in 2006, when they won the State Championship, all five starters were able to effectively knock down the long range shot. Forster gives a tremendous amount of credit to his assistant coach Mark Parrish, who is in charge of implementing game-like gun drills into their practices at least 3 times a week. But, both coaches believe the gun has done more than just build better shooters within their program. “It really provides buy-in from our younger kids when they come into our high school program. It has motivated our kids, at all levels, to come in and get extra shooting by themselves.”

When Dave Forster split the cost of the “Gun” with the boys’ program in 2004, his expectations were extremely high. When he was asked what it had done for the individuals on his team and the program itself, he answered, “It gave our hard-working, small-town kids the opportunity to compete at the highest level and become the best they can be.” The Gun from Shoot-A-Way, Got Yours??