 |
| Steven Pledger, left, blocks a shot for his Boo Williams Summer League team during an AAU Junior Olympic game Saturday. His father says Steven, now 15, had an eye for the ball even as a toddler.
(hyunsoo leo kim/the virginian-pilot) |
By VICKI L. FRIEDMAN
The Virginian-Pilot
CHESAPEAKE - Sipping a drink in one hand, Steven Pledger grabbed the pass from his dad in the other.
Pledger's father, also named Steven, was surprised by his son's good hands at the time. After all, little Steven was only 2 and the drink was milk from a baby bottle.
"He was righthanded and he grabbed it with his left hand," said the elder Pledger, who has watched his son, now 15, and his son's game grow ever since. Pledger is the leading scorer on Robbie Williams' 15-and-under Boo Williams Summer League basketball team competing in this week's AAU Junior Olympic Games. BWSL finished seventh at the AAU nationals in Detroit two weeks ago.
The 6-foot-3 Pledger, who has grown nearly a foot in two years and wears size-16 Nikes specially ordered off the Internet, does much of his damage with 3-pointers. As a sophomore last winter at Deep Creek High School, he drained more than 65 from behind the arc. If you want to catch a glimpse of his long-distance shot anytime soon, check out this week's action.
Pledger won't be a Hornet this fall. In a few weeks he'll head to the Blue Ridge School, about 20 miles northwest of Charlottesville. It's an all-boys boarding academy where he can focus on academics and basketball.
At Blue Ridge, Pledger plans to repeat his sophomore year, having entered high school at 13. He has a late birthday - Sept. 29 - making him the youngest in his class every year.
"It was a big decision, but I knew I was going to do it since eighth grade," said Pledger, noting that the large class size at Deep Creek made learning difficult. "I would do my work, but I'd get into too much trouble by talking."
Though the basketball will be more intense and the team travel schedule more daunting at Blue Ridge, Pledger's father, now retired from the Navy, says the transfer is hardly just a basketball decision. Average class size at Blue Ridge is eight, and 100 percent of graduates attend college, according to the school's Web site.
"Overcrowding at Chesapeake schools is not a secret. When you're in a classroom with 30 kids in a class, someone's not getting the lesson," Pledger's father said. "I knew there had to be another opportunity out there. At Blue Ridge, they nurture you academically. It's not just a basketball factory."
Steven Pledger Jr. grew up playing basketball with his father, who earned a scholarship to the University of Pittsburgh only to have a leg injury end his career after one season. A quiet kid, Steven would watch intently as his father played basketball at the Navy gym.
"There were a lot of other kids there and they'd be up and running," Steven Sr. said. "He would be sitting and watching, and it actually made me a better player. I didn't want to develop any bad habits."
At age 9, Pledger was on his first AAU team, playing up with 10- and 11-year-olds. As a 13-year-old his 31-point average for the Suffolk Blazers was the best at the national tournament that year in Nashville. He has been on BWSL for two years, and, according to Williams, "He's finally playing some defense."
"I can get some easy points thanks to the steal," said Pledger, who likes to pattern his game after Seattle guard Ray Allen.
He's already thinking about college ball - he says he's interested in Michigan State, North Carolina, Wake Forest, Duke and UConn - but Pledger knows he must improve his speed and strength. He weighs in at 190 but predicts he's got another 3 inches left to grow. He knows it will be tough this fall living away from home, but that's what e-mail and cell phones are for. "It'll be really hard on my mom," he said.
Dad will also have a rough time without him.
"Steven's my best friend," he said. "The grass will miss him, too. Now that's my job."
Delicious
Digg
Reddit
Facebook
Google
Yahoo
