Young Works Hard Across the Board this Spring/Summer
Ron Bailey, Publisher
Garvey Young is poised to have a tremendous junior year at Georgetown Prep. Many colleges are squarely focused on him.
August 18, 2006 – There are some in America who decry the educational system in this county is not developing the talents of kids. They suggest, not totally without merit, that the annual summer break is an anachronism from when America was primarily an agrarian society and young people were needed to tend crops, and therefore is irrelevant to today’s information society focus.
Additionally, many of those same critics contend that gains produced in young people during the school year are lost due to mental inactivity. Again, those theories, at least logically, could hold a level of truth.
In the world of high school/AAU-travel team hoops, at least young people don’t sit idly by, wasting away their summer breaks, as there are too many tournaments to compete in, and college coaches to impress in the process. Additionally, some work on their basketball skills as well, thereby increasing their current and future impact: The end result of such work is greater attractiveness to those same college coaches.
Some of those same kids also advance their academic position through summer school or scholastic camp, but outside of that group – which could very well be the minority – not much attention to scholastic concerns seem to be packaged with the athletic competition of young, talented, basketball player’s summer break.
That was definitely not the case for Garvey Young, a 6’4”, 180lb rising junior guard from Washington, D.C, who attends North Bethesda, MD’s Georgetown Prep. Playing with the Maryland Madness AAU/travel team and his high school, while also attending Planned Learning Achievement for Youth (P.L.A.Y.) - one of the hidden gems in young male academic and social preparation nationally – definitely allowed Young to experience the best of both worlds.
Playing for Maryland Madness this summer (and spring, which also contains a NCAA open recruiting period), Garvey was able to compete in tournaments throughout the eastern half of the United States. Such events as the Charlie Weber Easter Hoop Fest, Pittsburgh Jam Fest, Southern Invitational, Bob Gibbon’s Tournament of Champions, DC Hoop Fest, the Super Showcase, plus the AAU Regionals and Nationals were participated in, garnering Young and his teammates exposure and experience.
Young (#21), is seen here during Weber Easter Hoop Fest action talking to teammates. Though he's a quiet young man who likes his actions to speak for him, Garvey will lead vocally when necessary.
“I think I played well. I had my ups and downs like every player this summer” said Young during a recent phone interview, upon being asked to comment on his personal performance. In terms of the organization itself, he gave it his unqualified support. “It was great, it’s just like a team” he said.
Young also felt Madness, was forced to prove its skills constantly. “Since we weren’t a big name team like the Blue Devils or Assault (both traditional Washington area AAU/travel team powerhouses), they (opponents) underestimated us”, said this three year Madness veteran. “We had to show them every time on the court”.
Show them they did, with championship round appearances earned in virtually every tournament entered. This included winning their AAU Regional, a DC Hoop Fest final game showing, and quarter final appearances in the Pittsburgh Jam Fest (where Young reportedly averaged 18 points a game), and Gibbon’s TOC. The AAU Nationals produced a 6th place finish.
Garvey Young, shown here holding the AAU National's 6th place trophy (light blue shorts), was not satisfied with that finish. "I'm happy we got 6th place" he confided. "But out expectations were higher. I'm not complacent (with the achievement).
Garvey indicated he enjoyed Madness’ atmosphere, one which was defined as “We just go on the court and have fun” – a dynamic he opined “separated us from other teams”. The young guard also found great benefit from the tutelage of Madness’ coach, Buck Williams.
Williams, a 17 year NBA frontcourt performer routinely taught his Madness charges the secrets of the game. “It was great” revealed Young. “In practice, he gave us the inside little things”.
One example, supplied Garvey after being asked for specifics, was “how to get open using your inside shoulder if a defender is playing you too hard”. According to Young, Williams’ instructions in the true finer points of the game were a great benefit to the team in generally, and himself specifically.
While the Maryland Madness experience helped Garvey improve on the hardwood, P.L.A.Y. tremendously aided him off it. Earning a 3.0 average at Georgetown Prep – a boarding-based high school known for challenging its pupils in the classroom – Garvey doesn’t struggle in the classroom. Nonetheless, Young felt P.L.A.Y. was an invaluable experience.
According to P.L.A.Y.’s Founder, Executive Director, and Founder, Dennis Jackson, a longtime coach with NCAA Final Four experience and a mentor, this two week boarding camp experience is comprised by at least 6.5 hours of classroom instruction a day – including SAT preparation classes, academic support seminars, and life skill workshops – supplemented by 3.5 hours of hoops training.
Jackson relayed in a recent interview, P.L.A.Y. “is designed to enhance the academic, athletic, and personal skills of participants”, thereby “allowing them to turn a potential athletic scholarship into a degree”. The camp’s results speak for themselves, as Jackson shared “Less than 1%” of participants over the event’s life of 15 years “have been under any supervision of the criminal justice system”, while most go on to attend college, and graduate.