LeBrolic ... putting the work in

During the AAU 2008 season I received a phone call . . . "Coach Baker, this is Shumba Smith.  Do you still have your team this year?  Can I run with ya'll?"  I was like "Shumba!  What's up man?  Sure you can run with us.  But I have to warn you, I'm going to be hard on you and you have to come to practice and you have to play hard and blah, blah, blah".  He agreed to the terms and we met up that weekend for practice.  What I noticed what that my man was a little more muscular than I had remembered and that he could not only catch the ball, but he could finish plays with both hands.  It was obvious he had been working on his game.  So the relationship began, and Shumba has improved his game year-over-year.

Strong Work Ethic 

Along with being a hard worker, I found Shumba to also be very inquisitive.  He wanted to know where I was from, where I went to school, how I got to be an All-American and voted "best in uniform" by the ladies.  I told him a little bit of how hard I had to work to be a good basketball player and like most kids from the NYC he promised to "put the work in".  I told him about how I used to shoot jumpshots in my grandmother's backyard until 1am - 2am in morning in high school and how I shot over a 1,000 jumpers a day in the summertime during college.  I told him if he met me half way I would work out with him individually, but he had to be serious about it.  I tried to design the toughest work out I could think of.  I took him the areas (handle, developing a mid-range jumper) where I thought he needed the most improvement and then put him through a series of drills I did in college.  I then added some drills with the medicine ball . . . passing, shooting, resistance training etc.  And after about two hours of drills, we would then go play two-on-two, three-on-three, etc. against anybody in the park.  I thought the kid would quit but for the past two years he kept calling me to go work out.

Loyalty . . . Commitment 

And as you can guess, as he got better, other teams started calling.  I have gotten calls from at least four teams asking "to borrow my big man" . . . C'mon son . . .  I was born at night . . . but not last night.  I have even seen coaches approach him at events while he was wearing our uniform . . . What the What?  And I know he gets emails from teams literally begging him to attend their practices.  I have always reminded him that I knew him "before he was cool".  Unlike many of the NYC kids who go from situation to situation based on what they think is best in their favor at the moment, Shumba has always been loyal to our program.  Coming into the 2010 season the chubby little 12 year old didn't exist anymore.  Shumba was now a 6'3" 210 pound beast and he has played like it too.  He immediately established himself in practice, bodying everybody and daring anyone to challenge him.  He then backed it up in live competition as well . . . putting the ball on the floor, extending his jumpshot out to 3-point range, going hard in the paint, etc.  We have been to Washington, DC, Harlem, Newburgh, Syracuse and dude has at times been unguardable.  Shumba has done his best Derrick Coleman impression, putting up at least 20 points and 10 rebounds in every game, and has scored over 30 points at least three times.  His teammates even named him "LeBrolic" . . .  a cross between "Lebron" and "brolic".  I just stood on the sidelines taking it all in, marvelling at the monster I had created.  The kid who used to blend in was now becoming the team leader, and our "go to" guy.  He has literally put the team on his back and tried to will us to victory.  He is going to make some mid-major college program very happy one day.

What seemed like a chance meeting in Wingate Park three summers ago is turning out to be a long-term relationship with the Shock Exchange.  He needed a team and we needed a big man.  What we got was a kid who fit our philosophy of teaching life skills like investment management, hard work, loyalty, and commitment and who has a chance to define the Shock Exchange for years to come.