Ever since the Eastside Basketball Club (EBC) opened last July, the organization has been drawing some of the area’s top youth basketball talent to train for success during the offseason.

This summer has been no exception.

Recently, the club organized its first “Elite” high school Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) team, which has been traveling to a number of venues locally and nationally to take on some of the top high school teams in the United States.

“With (founder) Edward Nettles, we started a conversation about a year ago, with the idea of having a high school AAU team,” recalled the team’s head coach, Mike Kelly. “I was asked with coach Todd Rubin, a Redmond graduate, if we would run that program, and we agreed to do it.”

ALL STAR SQUAD

Looking at the Elite team’s roster, it resembles an all-star lineup of some of the area’s finest high school basketball talent. Players like Lucas Peterson and Ryan Strandin, both all-league first team selections from The Bear Creek School, standouts Jason Harrington and Conner Floan from Redmond High, and Inglemoor High starting guard Andy Nwaelele, who lives on Education Hill.

According to Kelly, who has 12 years of high school coaching experience including the last six at Seattle Prep, it was hardly a challenge to get his enormously talented group to play together as a team.

“It hasn’t been difficult at all,” he admitted. “I know their high school coaches, and I believe in their philosophies… They are fun to be around, they’re life-giving, they’ve created more energy around me as a teacher and coach, and they enjoy being around each other.”

Kelly believes that his role is to help polish the talent in each individual player, in order to help them prepare as best as possible for the high school season. While that may involve taking risks and trying new things, Kelly also noted that the players still have a relentless desire to compete and do well as a group, despite having just come together a couple months ago.

“The kids on this team are much more focused on winning than they are on individual accolades,” he said. “I want to put them in the best spot possible to make their individual games sharp.”

For players like Harrington, a guard for the Mustangs who averaged 9.6 points in 12 games last season, getting a chance to play on an AAU team was a definite change of pace due to the talent level of his teammates.

“On the high school team, I was one of the better players, but coming here I’m not one of the better players on the team,” he explained. “It was a whole different situation learning to play with guys that are better than you, and everyone meshing their games together.”

Soon-to-be seniors for the Grizzlies, Strandin and Peterson, both said that it took time to get used to the faster pace of the AAU team when compared to playing high school contests at the 2B level.

“The speed of the game increases, and your anticipation has to be up,” said Strandin, a 6-foot-7 forward.

Added Peterson, “It definitely has taken a little bit to get adjusted to the speed of the game, but I think our chemistry as a team has really come together nicely.”

WINDOWS OF OPPORTUNITY

The EBC’s AAU Elite squad will get a chance to test that chemistry at the Adidas Super 64, a tournament in Las Vegas which started on Thursday and concludes on Monday.

The event is one of the premiere prep basketball tournaments in the United States, drawing all-star teams from every corner of the country.

In addition to the top-level competition, college and professional scouts often scour AAU events like the Super 64 to take notes and recruit talented players, an opportunity that could loom large for athletes from small schools like Bear Creek.

“Because (Strandin and Peterson) are at a smaller school, they don’t get the exposure, but those two would be playing and starting at just about any large school basketball team,” said Kelly, who coached Seattle Prep to a state title in 2006. “That exposure may open up some opportunities for them to play in college.”

Kelly, who has 13 former players playing collegiately and two that made it into the NBA, is excited to see the potential that the players on his team have, not only as basketball players, but student athletes as well.

“We have a couple kids that Division I basketball is a real option for them, but the kids on our team have really solid grades, and there’s a lot of players that play Division III and Division II and get a great education,” Kelly noted. “They’re realizing those doors of opportunity are open for them.”

And the athletes themselves are champing at the bit to take on the best of the best, players that may one day be shoeing it up next to LeBron James and making ESPN’s nightly highlight reel.

“We’re really excited … it will be a chance to show how much we’ve improved and how much we’ve come together as a team,” Strandin said. “It’s all going to come down to who wants it more, who’s going to work for it, and how well we can stay together.”