Busy month helps Faith Academy boys hoops prepare for showcase
CAPTION: Faith Academy rising junior guard Jase Marshall is among the lettermen playing for the Flames at the Llano Boys Basketball Thursday Night League. Staff photo by Jennifer Fierro
The Faith Academy of Marble Falls boys basketball team is experiencing a very busy start to its summer.
The Flames are preparing to participate in the Texas Association of Basketball Coaches Association’s Showcase Friday-Sunday, June 21-23, in the Metroplex. The showcase includes teams that are members of the University Interscholastic League and the Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools. College and university coaches will be in attendance, and the UIL is allowing head coaches to coach their own high school teams. The UIL has strict rules about when and for how long coaches can coach their own players.
Faith Academy rising junior center Judah Phillips and rising sophomore guard Will Slyker will play in the showcase with their teammates.
“It’s a live period, and college coaches can talk to players,” Flames head coach Zakk Revelle said. “You have to send in a roster, and they’ll hand out pamphlets to college coaches. It’ll be a fun deal for us. Our guys are getting exposed to college coaches.”
He noted Faith is one of the very few TAPPS Class 3A members to compete in the showcase.
To help the Flames get ready for the event, Faith has been participating in the Llano Thursday Night League that began May 23.
This week the Flames face Burnet at 5:30 p.m. and Llano at 7:35 p.m. at the Llano High School varsity gym.
The league was organized under the direction of Llano High School boys basketball coach Landry Norwood. Revelle said the Flames are thankful to Norwood for including them.
“I think all the teams are benefitting from it,” he said. “You get some work done and you move on. We’re trying to use the summer time to develop. We’ve been working out a couple of times a week.”
While the Faith players aren’t unfamiliar, the ones who are playing are logging significant minutes during the Thursday league. Revelle said the players are learning each other’s tendencies and strengths and are creating court chemistry, which is invaluable in a sport that’s all about reaction.
“We’ve been competing and have been competing very hard,” he said. “All those things will help us when the regular season starts (in November).”
Other teams competing in the league include Blanco, Cherokee, Lampasas, Junction and Mason.
“We’re seeing big physical football athletes,” Revelle said. “We may not see teams like this in the regular season. It helps us so much. (My players) have to learn how to compete.”
He noted that championships aren’t usually won with three players doing the majority of the work. Rather, it takes everyone contributing when they’re called on to perform their roles and get a job done.
“Everybody goes into every year wanting to win a championship,” the coach said. “Everybody has a role. This is a chance for them to hone in on their skills. We want to see Jase Marshall and Seattle Hampton in a different role and them honing their skills.”
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