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Julius man-Randles NIKE camp competition
BY Matt Welch, mwelch@acnpapers.com
There hasn't been too much down time this summer for Prestonwood Christian Academy junior Julius Randle.
The nation's top-ranked basketball player for the Class of 2013 according to ESPN RISE, Randle has been making the rounds throughout the country during the offseason.
But the 6-foot-9, 240-pound forward's exploits haven't just been limited to the standard rigor of AAU tournaments or workouts. Amid that, Randle has also been on hand to receive firsthand instruction from two of the top players in the world as one of several high school standouts involved in the latest batch of NIKE Skills Academies.
"You learn how to compete all the time and learn a ton from all the coaches there."
A routine occasion each summer, NIKE holds a series of elite youth development camps. While the majority of the field is comprised of incoming seniors and juniors, Randle had actually received an invite after capping his freshman year, but was unable to attend.
"Not many freshmen get invited to those," Randle said, "so it was definitely a big deal to get invited then. I knew I'd be able to go after my sophomore year, but just to be invited that early was definitely an honor."
As such, the Lion was selected among the nation's top 20 high school and top 10 college big men for a camp in Chicago in late-June held by New York Knicks forward Amar'e Stoudemire. Only one of three representatives from the Class of 2013, Randle's run through the camp included five workouts with participation from the 2002-03 Rookie of the Year himself.
"We did a lot of skills work," Randle said. "Amar'e would give us moves to work on and there were a bunch of coaches at each basket working us out. We worked on different moves and they gave us a bunch of tips."
With Stoudemire's camp also running alongside a guard-specific camp hosted by The Colony product and New Jersey Nets guard Deron Williams, the two camps would also merge for games of 5-on-5 where Randle got plenty of run as a wing. Any time off the court was spent at a hotel where the players would socialize, play video games and even spending some time with Stoudemire himself.
"Amar'e is a very down-to-Earth person," Randle said. "He hung out with us and talked with us a lot. He wasn't stuck up or anything; just very cool to hang out with."
On the floor, Randle played to his status as the nation's No. 1 junior and showed why every major program in the country is salivating over him. He emerged as one of the camp's top scorers with an emphasis on his quick first step and ability to finish at the basket through contact.
But in graduating one academy, Randle's conquest had only begun.
Ten days later, from July 5-8, he was on hand from The University of Akron and among the top 80 high school players in the country for the LeBron James NIKE Skills Academy.
"The LeBron camp had a lot more team instruction to it," Randle said. "We had to play games in front of college coaches; it was actual games, so we had to work on a lot of plays and such. During the day, we probably had about 45 minutes of skill work, but the rest of the time was spent working out with our teams."
The players were divided into eight teams, each representing a college. Competing for Connecticut, Randle didn't wait long to start turning heads. He even got the chance to square off against the two-time NBA MVP himself on the second day of the camp.
"We played 5-on-5 and LeBron would be playing with some of the other high school players," Randle said. "My team played his team and it was just a great experience ... [James] was going through the same thing we're all going through when he was in high school, so it was definitely great to play against him.
"He's an amazing player and not everybody gets the chance to play against him."
Accounts from the camp denoted Randle's mentality didn't budge for an instant in James' presence, with the Prestonwood star even draining a couple jumpers on the Miami Heat forward and converting a stout dunk in transition. The experience was all the more gratifying since James' style is one Randle likes to emulate, given his rare combination of size, speed and strength. Onlookers were equally impressed with Randle lauded as one of the camp's top standouts of any age group.
Beyond the rigors of scrimmages, workouts and media sessions, the players got a chance to engage James in a Q&A session.
"[The Q&A focused on] things like life and basketball," Randle said, "plus things LeBron went through in high school and now. It was a very personal thing."
Just another chapter in what has been a busy offseason, Randle has also competed alongside the Texas Titans in a slew of nationwide AAU tournaments that included the NIKE Peach Jam in North Augusta, S.C., the Gym Rats tournament in Fort Wayne, Ind., and the AAU Nationals in Orlando, Fla. Playing alongside Prestonwood teammates in senior Zach Peters and junior Marquan Botley, it's just one more step in building toward the 2011-12 season when the Lions vie to reclaim the TAPPS 5A Championship.
Last seen succumbing to a 76-57 loss against Houston St. Thomas in the state finals, the Lions underwent a personnel change in the spring with the hiring of new head coach Chris Mayberry.
"Coach Mayberry's been great," Randle said. "I've been to a couple practices with him and you can tell that he's serious about what he's doing here. He's serious about what needs to be done on the court and he's a great person off the court."
In prepping for the varsity season, Randle has also spent the summer working out with Brian Abadie, a performance coach in Dallas whose work includes training a number of professional football and basketball players.
"[Abadie] has been great for me," Randle said. "He's getting me prepared for the next level at college. I'm getting a bit of a headstart and it's something not a lot of other high school athletes get, with the weight training and the speed and conditioning work.
"He's helped make me a better athlete than I was and he's helped my body out a ton. It's getting me ready for what's to come in the next couple years."
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