LAKEVILLE, IN. - A return back to the Lakeville area and a little bit of timing has afforded 2013 LaVille High School graduate Nicholas Amor an opportunity to coach at his alma mater. Amor, who played basketball for current LaVille Head Coach Michael Edison during his time for the Lancers from 2009-10 to 2012-13, has been named the eighth LaVille Girls Basketball coach.Amor replaces Daniel Pleninger, who coached LaVille for the last three years.  Other LaVille coaches include Corey Duncan, Kevin McCullough, Rebecca Carlson, John Willoughby, Denise DeVault, and Karen Kelley.  Willoughby is the winningest coach (.568) in LaVille Girls Basketball history. "When I first started coaching, I will be honest, my end goal was not to be a head varsity coach," explained Amor. "But as I coached more and more I saw the joy in sharing my knowledge with the younger generation. Then I got a taste of what it was like to be a part of a high school program at Lewis Cass, and that’s when I knew I wanted to pursue a head coaching position at the right school (this was the closest experience I had to when I played since my last college game.) When we moved back home I knew I wanted to coach in some capacity, because I bleed blue and I want to see all LaVille athletic teams have success. The timing couldn’t have been better. I had a chance to learn from coach Edison another full year and this time as a coach (JV head coach). Then the position came available for the girls and I knew I wanted it." Amor is a graduate of Indiana State University, where he majored in Business Management and minored in German, before picking up his diploma. While at ISU, Amor played for the Sycamore basketball team for two seasons. In his prep days, he was a four-year letterwinner for Coach Edison at LHS. He earned first-team all-conference while his team won a conference championship as a junior. During his sophomore season, he helped his team earn a third-place conference finish. Amor finished his LHS basketball career with 883 points, including 327 points during his senior season, where he was the second-leading scorer. "I have coached 4th-12th grade boys and girls," said Amor when asked about his coaching experience. "My first coaching position was in college for Marshall Illinois Schools. I have coached in Indianapolis public schools 4th-6th grade. The Northwest Warrior Basketball club which was a homeschool organization in Indianapolis, here I coached 5th-12th boys over the course of three years. I was an assistant varsity coach for Lewis Cass during the 2020-2021 season. Most recently I was the head JV coach for LaVille boys basketball over the 2021-2022 season." When asked what his basketball philosophy is, Amor responded, "As a player I was not the most athletic with a good majority of the teams that I played on. As a result I learned early on that my mind could be an extremely useful tool in the game of basketball. I think that athletic ability and talent can be evenly matched if a player understands the game, their own strengths and weaknesses, and the role they play on their team. I believe the little things add up to set a team apart and if as a player or a coach one is not mentally focused and prepared for the competition ahead, then they are 2 steps behind their opponent. I believe your offense should reflect the talent and strengths you have on your team, and defense ultimately wins. Defensively I want our presence to be felt throughout the entire game, and good communication and execution can make up for lack of athleticism. I believe this teaching has to start in our elementary players, and that putting the time into your younger level players and coaches is how you build a program not just a “good one and done team.”" In high school, Amor averaged 12 points per game and six rebounds per game. He also recorded a 48 percent from the field and hit over 77 percent of his free throw attempts. Since his playing days to now being a coach, Amor has, ". . . found that my desire to win has never left. I am a very optimistic person, and I understand the difference between having confidence and being cocky. Confidence is always knowing that no matter your opponent you have a chance to win (through proper preparation). Being cocky is thinking that it is a guarantee you will win every time. The key difference for me is I am in charge of the preparation and the players the execution. I can teach everything I know and do my absolute best to aid in the players execution of the game plan. But ultimately I can’t lace up and do it for them. Preparation is mine Execution is theirs!" According to Amor, he is in a "unique" situation with the coaches and players. "I have gotten to meet and coach most of the players," said Amor. "One unique thing about this current team is that I have known about them as players and individuals for a long time. In hearing stories about their successes and fun team bonding events as they were going through the ranks to become JV and Varsity players. Most of them had the opportunity to be coached by my oldest sister - Hannah Amor - who shared a similar mindset and love for the game. So having the opportunity to coach these girls feels a bit like a full circle moment. The staff I have known for some time and had two of them as grade school and junior high coaches and one as a teacher in my time at LaVille. We have been having open gyms for the entire month of June and have been competing at Zone on Tuesday nights." Amor steps into a program that has had one winning girls varsity season in the last 10 and two in the last 15 years. The 2021-22 LaVille Lady Hoops team finished with a 10-13 overall record. "I know that LaVille girls basketball has had its ups and downs," said Amor. "I know that we are due for a sectional as it has been 20 years (2013) and due for a (TCU) Bi-County (Tournament championship) as it has been 30 yearss(1993). I have shared with the girls that my goals this year are to have a winning season, win (TCU) Bi-County and win the sectional. I think these are very possible but not guaranteed and I look forward to the journey to reaching them. I want there to be excitement around girls basketball at LaVille, and I hope for a community that will rally behind these goals." According to the new coach, he will not be making any coaching staff changes. Steve Cox will return as the head junior varsity coach, Angie Dunlap as the assistant junior varsity/varsity assistant, and JT Beehler as varsity assistant. Amor closed by indicating that he wants to reach out to all of the girls in the LaVille basketball program from kindergarten through 12th grade. "I want to create a desire and love for the game in LaVille Girls Basketball K-12. My goal would be that after my tenure at LaVille the girls that I have had the privilege to coach reached their own goals. That when you drive past the parks and driveways in the surrounding communities that our players live in, you see the same number of girls playing in them as the number of boys."