Basketball: A City Game...And This Isn't Eureka

Trying out for the 7th grade basketball team was a rite of passage at North Coast schools for time in memoriam. I barely squeaked onto the 7th and 8th grade teams a hundred years ago at Winship in Eureka. My oldest son earned a spot on some type of "reserve squad" at Zane in 7th grade and quickly realized his basketball days were done. His brother Trent got cut from the Zane 7th grade team, but came back to make the club and play sparingly in 8th grade.

In between, I coached at Winship for a couple years. Junior high, or middle school, basketball is really a big deal in Humboldt County. I miss that living in Solano County because -- basketball's a city game and AAU teams and really competitive youth leagues make preparation for becoming a basketballer in Eureka over the years seem prehistoric.

I couldn't shoot -- at all. I know why coach Warren Smith didn't play me except during garbage time at Winship my first two years. I thanked God that Coach Smith kept 15 players on the roster. That's unheard of today. In 9th grade, I'd matured physically and Winship coach Rudy Diaz grew aggravated our our key guards' complete inability to defend Jacobs stars Simon Abittan and John Zink. They were good athlete, scorers, aggressive...and Abittan was a shooter.

Diaz called me to him in the second quarter of a game at Winship where Jacobs -- particularly Zink -- was killing us. Abittan killed everybody with a silky smooth jumper. Diaz told me to do whatever was necessary to keep Zink from scoring. Diaz told me he didn't want to shooting or handling the ball...just wanted me to see if I could defend Zink.

I'd never been in a game that early. But, I'd watched enough NBA on TV to know that the best defense was physical and in-your-face. Fouls? Who cared? I noted that great defenders threw scorers off their game any way they could. With no discernible basketball skill, I became the team's defensive stopper that day.

I managed to quiet Zink, with liberal use of fouls, bumps and use of my hands. (Suddenly having some athletic ability was a boon to my hoop career.) At one point, Glenn Matsen got in foul trouble for us and Diaz put me on Abittan. I remembered thinking, "I'm guarding the best player in town...with the game on the line." I banged and bumped and, while nobody stopped Simon, I made it hard on him.

I also fouled out in just 2 quarters of play. But, I'd made my mark. I'd also sat in a huddle, with the game tied, and heard Diaz design a play that ended with, "Sillanpaa! I don't want you shooting the ball! No matter what!" I agreed completely.

On the North Coast, back then and even into the 1990s, there weren't many refined basketball players in junior high or even early high school action. So, a guard (like me) who was willing to play hard defense -- accentutate his positives and conceal his negatives -- could get some attention.

Boy, it's not like that in my new home area now.

My 13-year-old son's fixing to tryout for the middle school 7th grade team in January. He's the 5-foot-11, 155-pound kid who would be an automatic to make a North Coast junior high team. He's a mediocre shooter and not so good handling the ball. He really hasn't played much and when he has played...he was totally overshadowed by inner-city (read: African-American kids) who live for hoops like my son lives for baseball.

Kellen, my youngest, is the most athletic of us all. He's actually got some explosion ...he jumps pretty good, if he were trying out at Sunny Brae or Winship...he's willing to mix it up...but, we can't convince him that he can't compete if he insists of playing the city game and take the ball out by the 3-point arc and try to make magic. But...the game's played out there by literal children with mad handles. And, under the hoop, his ability to leap...and his size...are offset by kids who, I swear, can jump out of the gym.

I saw 5th and 6th graders who could leap more quicly and higher than any 7th grader I ever saw on the North Coast. They have a knowledge of the modern, perhaps less team-oriented game, you know? So, while my youngest son would likely be a sure bet to make a North Coast team...he's in a pretty gray area making his team down here.

White kids don't do much on school teams down here. To mimic Chris Rock, "That's right! I said it! It a game African-American kids dominate down here."

So...what can we do to prepare my son?

He can't do what I did and get in a guy's grill defensively...the kid'll go between the legs and blow past him.

He can't use his leaping ability because there'll be guys who can leap better.

Heaven knows...he can't make the team as a scorer.

So...he can be really physical (which will make him unpopular)...hope the coach has some understanding that role players have value...set screens...help on defense...he'll have to figure out his strengths and hide his weaknesses.

My son really wants to be a basketball player. He could skip it, knowing it's tough for him to compete here, to say, "I want to concentrate on baseball." He wants to play 2, 3 sports. I like that!

If he were trying out in Humboldt County, he'd be on the team...as the big, athletic kid who scores 14 a game and gets 15 rebounds...without getting more than 10 feet from the hoop. He'd be a game-changer on defense because there aren't many athletic taller kids (he's not going to be a "tall kid" much longer, he's about done growing) back home.

Down here...he's trying to figure out how to just make the team.

It's a city game and the kids he'll compete for spots with aren't coming out of Youth Hoopsters rec leagues...they've been playing AAU ball, etc.

Come to think of it, while I think he'll figure out a way to make a mark in tryouts, I think lots of kids become one-sports athletes really early because they're afraid of getting cut trying a sport they aren't sure they're very good at...and their parents let them. On the North Coast, the top athletes try everything and learn which sports they're best at...which is how it should be.

Basketball's a city game. My son's a real North Coast baller. Be interesting to see how it all shakes out.