2 THE POINT!

Dunbar's Point Guard Corey Spence

A point guard (PG), also called the one or "the ball-handler", is one of the standard positions in a regulation basketball game.  A point guard has perhaps the most specialized role of any position -- essentially, he/she is expected to run the team's offense by controlling the ball and making sure that it gets to the right players at the right time.  However, a true point guard's job is to create scoring opportunities for his team.  After reading the definition of a point guard on line at Wikipedia, I posted the most important aspects of the definition which describe almost every aspect of Dunbar's Junior Point Guard - Corey Spence. 

Now I know that most of you are already saying..."how can someone write a story about their own child", well the answer is plain and simple...it's what i've been wanting to do since BMOREHOOPS inception in 2004, but because of my love for the game and the excitement of baltimore basketball, I thought it kind of selfish to write about my own child, so for so long, i wrote about other peoples children and their sucesses and now I feel like what's the worst that could happen.

Corey who has been playing basketball since age 6 started in the Woodlawn Recreation Basketball League and moved onto Bentalou had a stint at Madison, stopped by the Baltimore Stars, Baltimore Select, and Team Melo for a while and played AAU for the DC Blue Devils this past summer and has seen his share of ups and downs and this thing we call BMOREHOOOPS.  Like most 16 year old baskeball players, his eye is on the prize of playing at the next level, but how do you get there when you play your heart out...but sometimes your efforts go unnoticed?

As a Dunbar JV starter his freshman year, Corey was moved up to varsity and led Dunbar in scoring in the State Championship where they took a lost to New Town under Coach Darnell Dantzler (Edmondson Storm).  His sophomore year, he started at the PG position under current coach Cyrus Diego Jones, but as the season went on his lost his starting position for reasons unknown and finished the season in a lost in the semi-final round of the state championship.  After such a disappointing season, Corey felt like his "true point guard" abilities had fallen on death eyes and nobody was seeing  all the assists, the dedication, and all the clutch wins that he had so wholeheartedly contributed to, so he wanted out.  Not personal, he just thought if he'd transfer to a school where his mother resides, then he'd have a better chance of being noticed and appreciated.  Of course with disappointment from our children, we feel disppointment and frustration as parents, so I also felt like what has gone wrong?  I felt like here's a kid who shows up, plays hard, does what his job requires although with a little attitude sometimes, but he's definitely helping the squad.  Seeing points rack up for his teammates and articles about how well they did....i began to say to myself "Has anybody looked at how those teammates got 20 plus points?"  And although as parents we are supposed to conduct ourselves in a manner of respect and humbleness in front of our children, I will be the first to say that a couple of times, with a couple of people, I totally lost it!  But thanks be to patience, understanding, and just good ole' common sense, we both decided that it was no need in running from a problem neither of us could fix, that maybe we should re-enroll in the school that he fought so hard to get into and ride it out like a true soldier. 

As many of you know, Corey decided to stay and as the starting varsity point guard, and with only a few games under his belt, he's glad he did.  Although his tireless efforts as the PG still hasn't erranded him any ink from any media outlet beside the Sun's web blog, he still shows up whether a good game or bad game.  He still gets the ball to his teammates, he still creates all those opportunites for others to score...and yes, he still gives Coach Diego some of that back talk, but the difference is, he knows that at the end of the day when all of this is said and done, he did what he had to do and one day someone will notice that the ball always has to come back 2 The Point!