Chavez Starting to Reload

Ron Bailey, Publisher

After losing a lot, the Eagles are poised to press on.

November 8, 2010 - Relatively new in the high school basketball game, Chavez Charter School enjoyed tremendous success last year, as the Eagles not only went 23-13 for the season, but most importantly sent four seniors to college and another now attends prep school, with the intent on playing Division I football at Maryland next year.

Those individuals, Markee Mazyck, Larry Mazyck, Nolan Jones, plus brothers James and Jermaine Powell now attend Seward CC, Fork Union Military School, Essex CC, respectively, while the Powell siblings enrolled at Elizabeth City State University.

The flip side of losing this quintet is not only off-the-floor leadership, but significant on-court numbers: Chavez and it's coach, Malcolm Battle, lost Markee's 21 points and 11 rebounds, Larry's eight points and eight boards, Jones' 11 points, six rebounds, plus seven points, four rebounds, four dimes from James Powell and Jermiane's three points and three caroms.

Malcolm Clarke leads the Eagles this year.

Battle on moving on: "Once crop leaves, another steps up".

In his second year as Chavez' head coach (fifth on the staff of a school in existence for six years), Battle, a former University of Maryland - Eastern Shore and Carroll High School (DC) point guard, last week acknowledged this year's batch of Eagles are "not as big or as skilled as we were last year" - Markee was a 6'5", 220 lb swingman, Larry stood 6'8", 340 lbs in the pivot, while Jones was around 6'4" and 200 lbs - "but they play so hard. They never think they are out of a game".

This smaller, younger, plucky bunch is led by Malcolm Clarke, a 6'3", 170 pound guard that loves to strap and battle and 5'9", 150 lb sophomore guard Devin 'Lil' Scrappy' Shuler, a player that in short, just makes plays, whether it's shooting, passing, ball patting or defending. Senior guard Daquan Coleman, standing 6'0" and 175 pounds has focused and greatly improved his game according to Battle, while multifaceted 6'2", 170 pound guard/forward Ty Elliot is expected to provide impact on both sides of the floor.

Devin 'Lil' Scrappy' Shuler (right) can shoot, dribble, pass and defend.

Another senior, Walter Royster is a 5'10", 170 lbs hustle man/defender, and a pair of young guards, Charles Allen and Chris Baez, 6'0", 150 lbs and 6'2" 160 lbs respectively, all will have roles on the team.

With such a small, guard-deep lineup, Battle expects to "press coming off the bus", while also playing hard, scramble defense and run various zone schemes in the half court. Offensively, the Eagles will similarly push tempo.

While the coach indicated "Our schedule is not as intense as last year", it is nevertheless formidable. "We open up with Ideal on December 1st", with tilts against "Montrose, Riverdale Baptist at the Nike Hoop event" shared the energetic coach. "Sidwell Friends and St. Albans in tip off classics, Coolidge, Eastern, National Christian home and away, Atlantic Shores, Friendship" and Bishop O'Connell in a Christmas event, plus other matchups.

Walter Royster (6) does many things that help teams win.

That's 30 games, all put together despite not enjoying the safe confines produced by league membership; Chavez is an independent. Battle was able to do it through hard work - "Soliciting, sending emails, almost being a pest" and his program's pedigree - "A lot of people know we are doing the right thing".

This includes playing hard, of which Battle opined "I will say this the way these kids play is a reflection of their neighborhoods, tough"; Chavez is in the middle of D.C.'s Ward 7 Mayfair Paradise neighborhood, long known for being rough. Distractions are plenty.

But where others see the glass half empty, Battle see's it half full, and he attributes it to Chavez' success: "There are kids in DC that can play. We (coaches) just have to catch them up. We keep looking for finished products...Our kids come in and get it in. That's all we can ask for".

The challenges Battle et al face are not limited to players and scheduling, given the multi-building structure and limited resources of Chavez. "Unlike most schools, our kids go to two campuses" he revealed, "which in itself is challenging. On top of that, we have one gym, used by middle schools boys and girls teams, JV boys and girls teams, and varsity boys and girls teams".

Ty Elliott (dribbling) is an up-and-comer.

Again, Battle has turned that into a plus, as the boys varsity and junior varsity crews practice jointly, which he agreed accelerates they younger kid's learning curves.

Expect the Eagles to be better later than earlier, while the young players learn and figure out their roles. Despite that, Battle does have two expectations of them from the jump: "At least you know our kids will play hard and play the right way".