Positive observations amid local basketball scene

By Mike Brown

Remember how earlier in the season many gymnasiums were sparsely filled and there wasn’t much noise or spirit at most local high school basketball games?

The downward trend has rebounded nicely the other way. Last Friday’s frantic game between previously undefeated Pettisville and upstart North Central was a flashback to the “old school” when the gym was packed end to end. The crowd was into the boy’s game from start to finish and the players produced a classic.

Another “old school” attribute is the emotional play of junior forward Derek Wyrick at North Central. His determined will to win is a reminder to other area players, coaches and fans. In the first three minutes of last week’s classic game, the Eagle leader came off the floor to the bench, visibly upset that he and his team had started poorly and Pettisville was out to a big lead.

For just two seconds, Wyrick threw a towel over his head as he sat. Sitting right behind the bench, I could see him take some deep breaths, gather himself, take the towel off, and then look to coach Justin Houk to get back in the battle. The rest is history. His emotional leadership and 23 points along with multiple blocks, rebounds and steals were the difference in a great North Central victory.

It was also cool to see reserve players like NC’s senior forward Lucas Kidston and Stryker High’s Megan Rupp jump off the bench in big games last weekend and be mentally ready to make huge contributions and score crucial baskets.

Around the area, fans tend to ask sports writers “what is your favorite team?” In this business, it’s a mistake to root for any particular team and all I ever hope for is a competitive game. It’s tough to write about blow outs.

But one team in the area is impressive and they toil in somewhat obscurity in the little village of Pioneer. This is a school without football and without much luck in any sports the past few years. The NC girls hoop team won only once all season a year ago and they haven’t won a game yet this season.

But after participating in a recent practice, it’s easy to admire them for their efforts and stalwart intentions to get better and lead the program upward bound. There’s talent there, a quality group of coaches giving their all, and it’s a classic case of struggling to get the girls to do more little things and a few big things to win games.

But as one of the NC coaches wisely says, what the girls (and boys) do on our local high school basketball teams is learn life lessons far more valuable than winning a game on Friday or Saturday night.

During last week’s Holgate victory over a struggling Edgerton boys’ team, veteran coach Paul Wayne provided some great insight with a lead quote. “The skills of the game were once learned and practiced in the driveways and barns.” His team had just beaten Edgerton by a final score of only 36 to 27.

His wise comments brought back fond memories of a long time ago in Vermont’s very harsh winter climate, and I could have made millions back then if I had patented a wool glove with the fingertips cut off. Today the catalogs and stores are full of custom gloves made just that way.

Back in “the day” it was so much fun to play one-on-one or two-on-two hoops in an unheated barn or in the open driveway. Believe me, that’s where we learned to make moves in between getting slammed into the barn door or pushed into piles of snow along the driveway court.

Our old house had an attached barn where during the winters, even when we were competing in junior varsity and varsity games, we played basketball games on a discarded bushel basket with the bottom cut out. My father still remembers thinking the entire house was coming down when my forever friends Paul Obuchowski or Donnie Bruce, who always struggled to stop me on offense, figured out a way to contain my scoring with left or right hand shots. They would slam me into the flexible old barn door where the hoop was attached to the rafters. So, I learned to be even more creative and quicker to avoid getting slammed and of course still spin, bank, or dunk the ball into the low basket.

It has sometimes been painful this winter to watch varsity teams, boys or girls, score zero or only three or four points in a quarter, and often finish many local games with only 27 to 40 points in a full game.

Why the difference? According to research, computers and cable television keeps today’s teens inside, sitting down, watching the screen an average of five hours per day.

Holgate coach Wayne was right: today’s players generally just don’t have the skill set to score points consistently against a rugged defense. I’m not suggesting we abolish televisions or computers, of course, but it would be way cool if today’s coaches carved out 15 minutes of each daily practice to work on scoring ability and put more creative style, skills and wow factor into the local game.

It would be even cooler to see local kids outside having creative fun on a hoop court more often regardless of the weather conditions. I’ve still got some of those wool gloves without fingertips.