Green Working Hard In Commonwealth

Ron Bailey, Publisher

February 4, 2008 – Winchester, Va’s Erick Green has decided to stay in the Commonwealth for college, as he recently announced his decision to attend Virginia Tech. The Millbrook High School standout chose the Hokies over George Mason, St. Joe’s and James Madison University.

“It’s close to home, not very far” from Winchester, shared Green last night via telephone of his motivation for choosing Virginia Tech. “And playing in the ACC (Atlantic Coast Conference) has always been a dream of mine”.

Green can score, make plays for others, and defend. (pic courtesy of Green)

Standing 6’2” and weighing 185 pounds, Green is a junior backcourt man capable of playing both guard positions, who likely will play point guard for the Hokies in 2009. In addition to running a team and scoring – he’s averaging 19.3 points and 4.2 assists per game for Millbrook and is around 40 points short of 1,000 for his career – Green can defend as well.

One may assume a player with such a resume, and long arms to boot, would be the apple of a plethora of school’s eyes. While many Division I-caliber schools are aware of him, they possibly discounted his body of work due to the perception of Winchester hoops: The city, located in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley region and having over 23,000 people is not known as a basketball hotbed. Resultantly, Green has taken other step to develop his skills.

First off is his participation with Triple Threat Basketball, an AAU/travel team known for its success on the spring/summer circuit.

“I hear about that all the time” said Green regarding questions of Winchester’s ability as a region to develop players. “I make up for it in AAU though…Triple Threat has been a real good experience. I get a lot of exposure and we always play against good competition”.

Green (#2), with members of his Triple Threat teammates. Keith Stevens is in red (right).

The organization’s founder, Keith Stevens is happy Green joined his 16 and under squad last year. “He brought stability to the point guard at the younger age group. He brought size, makes open shots and defends” shared the longtime basketball talent developer.

Nevertheless, Stevens stressed constant development is necessary for Green, a player that supplied around 15 points a game on the travel team circuit: “During the winter, he has to find self-motivation himself, and develop his skills to prepare for college”.

Erik shared that is in fact done, as frequently he “stays after practice” to put in work developing his game, including “getting quicker and improving the consistency of my outside shot”. Green also travels as far as the D.C. area in search of good competition, in addition to frequenting a facility closer to his home, in which “the older guys I play against constantly tell me I’m not ready, and prepare me”.

Stevens believes with continued work, Green has “the opportunity to be a three to four year starter” in the ACC. If that occurs, and it very well could, Erik would be living proof of the old Rakim rap verse “It’s not where you’re from, it’s where you’re at”.

Green is at a good place.