Playing varsity-level basketball in high school is a lot like a full-time job, especially at the highest level of competition.
During the months of December, January and February, basketball is the top priority for plenty of players throughout the South Puget Sound League and Washington.
That’s not entirely the case at Thomas Jefferson High School. The Raider boys basketball team is currently looking for some help in securing the program’s first appearance at the district tournament in the last 25 years. Entering the final week of the regular season, TJ (6-8) is one win behind fifth-place Auburn for the final playoff berth.
But if there were playoffs for grade-point averages and SAT scores, the TJ boys basketball program would be among the state’s elite.
Half of the Raiders’ 12-man roster has been a part of Jefferson’s rugged International Baccalaureate (IB) Program of study. The two-year program requires students to challenge themselves at a high academic level, according to the Federal Way School District. The program is basically an internationally accepted qualification for entry into higher education.
“It is just way more intense classes,” said senior Spencer Hicks, TJ’s starting center who also sports a 3.91 GPA and scored 1940 on his SATs. “It’s more college-based. It’s definitely harder.”
The 6-foot-7 Hicks has been joined in IB classes by the Raiders’ two leading scorers, Jeff Brigham and Eric Radford, along with backups Michael Suh, Eric Kim and Danny Cha.
“It is a tremendous time commitment to be able to take those kinds of courses and also play sports and have a social life,” said first-year TJ head coach Kyle Templeton. “What’s even more unbelievable is that these kids are all multi-sport athletes. Brigham, Radford and Hicks play three sports. They are literally busy all school year from 7 a.m. to sometimes 10 p.m. Monday through Friday.”
According to Radford, he usually spends about two hours every night doing some form of homework and “four or five hours” on Sundays.
“The biggest thing is time management,” said Radford, a 6-foot-4 forward who is set to play basketball in the fall at the University of the Redlands in Los Angeles. “I just don’t have much time to waste and it’s all concentration.”
The concentration level is also up for Templeton at practices and games this season.
“I am not sure that the smarter kids are easier to coach because they always have questions,” said Templeton. “That is a good thing, but sometimes you want them to just say OK and do what you are asking. But their brains function at such a high level, they need clarification on certain things.”
And according to Radford, that constant questioning can get a little old, as far as Templeton is concerned.
“Coach said to us that he knows basketball better than any of us,” Radford said with a laugh. “When we question him during games or practices, he tells us that we may think we are pretty smart, but we don’t know basketball like he does.”
But Templeton has learned to use his team’s smarts as an advantage during practices and games. As advanced-level IB students, the TJ kids are conditioned to follow directions and understand concepts thoroughly, which really helps a team on the basketball floor.
“He brings out the best in every player,” said Hicks, who will study aerospace engineering at the University of Washington in the fall. “When he came in, he knew our personalities. It’s a lot different this year. Our chemistry is a lot better.”
The 2009-10 edition of the Raiders are preparing for life after high school basketball ends.
“A lot of high school athletes limit themselves of where they can play college sports because their grades are not up to the level,” Templeton said. “So they have to settle for something they may not want. But these guys took care of business in the classroom and on the floor and the world is wide open to them.”
