Vander Velden takes reins of NHS girls basketball

Eric Vander Velden is ready. He is ready to guide the Newton High Cardinal girls’ basketball program.

Going into his 12th year as an elementary physical education teacher in the Newton school district and years of coaching at the middle school level, Vander Velden steps into the head coaching job at Newton High School.

“I wanted to continue the process which has been instilled by previous coaches here. Everybody has been striving to turn our girls’ basketball program around,” Vander Velden said.

Vander Velden spent three years as the high school girls’ freshman head coach on the staff of Brandon Sharp. He served as Sharp’s varsity assistant coach in 2017-18.

Vander Velden was the varsity assistant coach for the Newton High boys’ basketball program a year ago. His first six years in Newton were spent as the head eighth-grade girls’ basketball coach at Berg Middle School.

“It was time. Since Jason (Carter) moved over from the girls’ program to take over the boys’ program this year, I wanted to step up as the head coach,” Vander Velden said. “I’m ready to put my identity on the high school program.”

Vander Velden said with his coaching of girls’ sports through the years in Newton, he wants the girls to succeed. Working with other coaches has helped him develop his coaching skills.

“Every coaching staff involved with the girls’ basketball program the past 20-25 years wanted to change the tradition,” Vander Velden said. “The girls haven’t been the state basketball tournament since 1994. We all want to move it forward and be a competitive program. That’s my goal.”

Newton’s girls have had three winning seasons in the past 13 years. The Cardinals were 12-11 in 2015-16. They posted 16-5 seasons in 2006-7 and 2008-9.

A year ago the Cardinals were 3-18. The past the years the Newton girls have combined for a 14-53 mark.

“It’s about changing the mindset of our players to expect to beat teams. Right now, it is ‘everybody beats Newton,’” Vander Velden said. “We’re working to switch that around.”

Vander Velden said putting together his coaching staff is an on-going process. He said interviewing for an assistant varsity coach, a junior varsity coach and another assistant coaching spot is in the works for next week.

Tyler Stewart is returning as the Newton JV 2/freshman coach.

Vander Velden graduated from Southeast Polk High School in 2000. He competed in football, basketball, track and baseball at SEP. He said his older siblings were involved with athletics as well.

Vander Velden earned his education teaching degree from the University of Northern Iowa in 2005.

He began his and coaching career at Seymour in southern Iowa. He taught and coached at North Polk before coming to Newton in 2008.

“I’ve always wanted to be an elementary PE teacher and coach,” Vander Velden said. “My elementary P.E. teacher influenced me a great deal and I still see him once or twice a year at events.”

Vander Velden, who teaches physcial education at Aurora Heights and Emerson Hough elementary schools in Newton, was hired for the head coaching position at the end of the school year. He said he met with the returning players in a small meeting the first full week of summer.

“With my duties as head middle school softball coach, I was fortunate to have someone step up to help with our open gyms this summer,” Vander Velden said. “At the end of June and early July, I started getting more involved in the open gyms.”

Vander Velden said he has about nine players coming back from a year ago. He said the team competed in the Pella Summer Jam and the Central College team camp — both two-day events — in July.

“We didn’t have the full group at either event because those weren’t scheduled until late,” Vander Velden said. “We competed well and got better with our offense and defense at the end of the four days. We need to work on a lot of things before the season starts in November.”

Vander Velden wants to run a fast-paced offense with the Cardinals. He said the Cardinals will be working to get things going in transition.

“Right now, our offensive weakness is our half-court offense. We don’t want the other team to set up its defense so I want us to run up-and-down the court getting our shooters in the corners to get open looks,” he said.

“Defensively, I’m a man-to-man coach but I also like to switch it up. We don’t want teams to think all we play is man-to-man. We want to make them uncomfortable so we’ll use some zone or some type of junk defense just to confuse them at times.”

One other thing Vander Velden is stressing is “Newton Basketball.” He said he and Jason Carter, the Newton boys’ head coach, along with assistant coaches have worked together to form the Red Bird Basketball Club.

“It’s about Newton Basketball — not just girls or not just boys. We want to promote our sport and get our youth and AAU teams involve,” Vander Velden said. “The Red Bird Basketball Club is to help with our AAU tournaments we’re going to hold.”

Vander Velden said the new girls and boys basketball club is on the lines of the Newton Area Soccer Association. NASA helps develop and promote a youth soccer program in Newton.

“Jason and I believe it’s important to have a youth program where basketball fundamentals are developed before the kids reach middle school,” Vander Velden said. “If the kids know how to dribble, shoot and play defense before then, it helps our middle school and high school programs grow and succeed.”

Contact Jocelyn Sheets at
641-792-3121 ext. 6535 or jsheets@newtondailynews.com