Basketball is a prominent sport in New York City. There are teams from all over the city vying for one glorious championship trophy. Curtis is no exception, and fields three boys teams; freshmen, junior varsity and varsity. Creating the roster for these teams is a long and important process for the coaches. Finding the best players  that not only have the skills but can work together as a team is crucial when creating the line up.

Though tryouts don’t begin until early September, freshmen Coach Calvin Cress begins looking at players during the summer when he coaches a summer league tournament for incoming freshmen. “Playing in the summer helps build athletes’ skills, gets them used to playing against tough competition and brings cohesiveness to the team,” said Cress.

In the beginning of the school year, there is a requirement that all freshmen trying out must participate in cross country. “Having them do cross country is helpful with their conditioning for basketball,” said Cress. This training is very important as it helps get them in shape and ready for tryouts. There are a lot of basketball workouts before the official tryouts start to get the players ready.

Tryouts run about two weeks in October.   Freshmen and sophomores tryout for junior varsity with the best players making junior varsity and promising freshmen making the freshmen team.   Once in a while a freshmen makes the JV  team.  While the underclassmen are working to make the team  the juniors and seniors are vying for 12 spots on the varsity  team. During tryouts  players scrimmage, do drills and run track.  Coaches usually look for people who show good skills, aggressive play,  and leadership on the court.

Approximately 75 freshmen tryout for the team and only about 14 are chosen with another 14 filling the freshmen roster.  For freshman Jerome Tettis , tryouts were important. “A lot of other kids were trying out so showcasing my best talent was important,” said Tettis. In the Summer League, Tettis  led the team in blocks which impressed the coaches. He was one of  only two  freshmen to make the JV team.

Even for returning members such as sophomore Christopher Mckeon, making the JV team was not going to come easy, ”I was unsure if I would even make the team because of the talent of all the kids trying out,” said Mckeon.

During tryouts, there are many things the coaches look for besides just putting the ball in the basket. “Character, integrity, dedication and hard work are important to me as they’re also key attributes that apply to the quest in life,” said Cress.