You wouldn’t expect to meet a 7th grade girl that possesses the same grit, swag, and confidence as Mohammed Ali, her coming from of all places, sleepy Carpinteria, CA.
But that’s the only way I can describe this 5-8 fireball blessing called Brooklyn Shamblin.
She knocked me flat out when I saw her play and train. E-Woods was like, “Down goes Frazier”, blaaam and kapow. That’s how impressed I was the first time I met her 6 months ago when she was still in the 6th grade.
Brooklyn Shamblin is half white, half Latina, and always full-on amazing. She embodies the Golden Rule to be great to people, is at ease with herself, but never easy on herself.
What’s truly endearing? She’d feel at home in a crowd of junior high suburban cheerleaders as much as she’d feel cool playing in an urban gym full of men’s Drew league ballers.
Really? I’m taking her to the same men’s Drew League games to play that I took WNBA’s Mo Billings to, because I want her to win.
How will it go? They’ll love her, they’ll accept her, because B-Sham possesses crazy gears to socialize with people, and not a micron of fear to be found on her person.
How dope is she, what is her ceiling? When I met Brandon Jennings, who was a 7th grader himself in 2003, I said to myself, E-Woods, I’ve just met the new Mohammed Ali of hoop.
What concrete indicators led us to think Brooklyn will dominate? She gave Windward’s 8th grade team the 40 ball as a 6th grader. That reminded me how B-Jennings’ AAU team beat Mater Dei’s varsity team when he was in 7th grade.
She just got invited to play on the EGB National Team that will take on the East’s best 8th grade girls this year in New York, Chicago, and Florida.
Brooklyn has also been named to the All Cali Girls 2024 team and will represent California in the Elite Girls Basketball National Middle School All American Games in Tampa next April.
Enough from me. I’ll let Brooklyn describe herself, “I’m just a hard working girl with a dream to play in the WNBA. I love training with University of Washington standout Amber Melgoza and former Gonzaga player Keani Albanez.
“I want to help the world by being a doctor, to make my family’s name proud, and have fun all along the journey.”
Brooklyn the person? Polite and subtly sweet, straight forward and cheerful, but also unbelievably driven beyond her years, and introspective.
Example? I remember telling her, if I blow you up in this story some people will think you’re missing out on a childhood. Maybe you’ll be a burn out from too much expectations a la what Todd Marinovich. It might scar you for life, dear.
Brooklyn laughed when I brought up Marinovich and already knew about him, “I know all about that guy, I read up on him a few years ago in 4th grade. We aren’t alike, I want this, I thrive from pressure and expectations. That guy, he wasn’t ready but I totally am.”
#Cassius Clay is reborn
What makes Brooklyn ready? She’s the daughter of a high school teacher, Julie
Rubio-Shamblin, who used to be a cheerleader/dancer at UCSB back in the day. I’ve gotten to really know and respect Julie.
She’s like fam, a savvy and caring person who cares enough for her kids to make it possible for Brooklyn to play organized games vs. elite 17U organized competition when Brooklyn was only in the 6th grade!
Julie is that awesome mom that supports her kids’ dreams, nurtures their educational aspirations as she sacrifices 2+ hours a day to drive her kids to attend Oaks Christian High, then drive back to educate youngsters at Carpinteria High as a History teacher.
#Julie is dedication
Brooklyn’s older brother Ty Shamblin is a dope junior wide receiver at Oaks Christian. His squad is undefeated and won its first round playoff game recently.
Their dad BJ Shamblin won a CIF football championship in high school, was basketball MVP, was a member of one of the nation’s top relay teams in track and played wide receiver for UCSB’s football team back in the day.
How many families come across as competitive as the family of former Duke Christian Laettner’s was, always jibing each other and promising to outdo each other’s accomplishments.
At the dinner table Ty or Brooklyn might proclaim, “I’m going pick up a few different sports just so I can win 3-4 more CIF titles than you did Dad”. It’s all in good fun but their hyper intense nature def brings out the best in one another.
So Brooklyn has it like that E-Woods? Yup, she reminds me of her contemporary Skyy Clark who also attends Oaks Christian. He’s that top 10 in his class freshman baller who committed to DePaul the first week of his 8th grade year.
They remind me of each other, great families, willing to work at their hoop craft 3-4 hours a day, 7 days a week, whatever it takes.
Who else has noticed? ESPN HoopGurlz has a seen the potential in Brooklyn, putting her as a top 30 nationally ranked player in her class.
Brooklyn seemingly can pick up and master anything she sets her mind to. Academically, B-Sham is working hard in the classroom to keep straight A’s, she takes test prep courses, and she hopes to get a 1,300 on the SAT as an 8th grader next year.
Sports wise? She freakin’ played one season of Lacrosse at Oaks and was offered a position on an AAU national caliber team. This girl uses her college ready strong yet agile 5’8” athletic cut frame to also play soccer. And of course was part of the US Soccer Youth Developmental program at age 11.
Yikes, brains and talent to spare!
Which dope comic character does Brooklyn remind me of? To keep it real, 100?
Hit Girl from Kick Ass, yup. Both come off having a sweet nature but with that deadly approach, not afraid to carve up the comp on court.
B-Sham is a killer, as straight up gangsta in a game as it gets between four lines, which is amazing because outside those 4 lines she’s as kind and hopeful to save the world as anybody you’ll meet.
She’s classy, you won’t find her saying that funny line that Hit Girl said, which one of you.....hmm...hmm, wants to go first?
What must be known about Brooklyn is this girl is as much of an “old soul” as I’ve seen, ageless, smart like a college kid, articulate.
What does she do for fun? She listens to modern hip hop, or sometimes to the late Prince, who her mom loved hearing when she was in 7th grade in the 80’s. These lyrics from the late singer’s Baby I’m A Star seem to do justice to her:
“Hey, check it all out
Baby, I know what it's all about
Before the night is through
You will see my point of view”
A huge part of Brooklyn’s story can be seen in the absolute love she has for her grandfather, Ed Rubio (aka Paba), who unfortunately suffers from Alzheimer’s. It’s slowly eroding his memory.
But that disease will never diminish his great spirit. Brooklyn and Ed share such a great connection and she wants nothing more than to give him back his full faculties and memories. She’d give anything to do that this very moment if she could.
I’ll let Brooklyn explain it in her own way, “My grandfather, my Paba, he means so much to me, to us. He’s always at my games.
“We’re all there for him, but I want to be there for all the ‘Ed’s’ in the world who have to endure this condition. I’m convinced it will be curable in time. I want to be there for all the kids like me who empathize for their friends and relatives that suffer from dementia and Alzheimer’s. It’s my life’s mission to break the code, join a crack team of researchers that will work to find a cure.
“I had a dream a couple of years ago that I was good enough in the future to be recruited by UCONN, and that coach Geno Auriemma offered me a chance to play for him. I had to turn him down, tell him thanks but my priority is to get myself at a Stanford or Ivy League level school that’s a leader in medical research.
”To intake the elite opportunity to set up a chance to cure Alzheimer’s, that must take precedence over all. I just want to take away the pain from all the people’s eyes who are suffering. I don’t want others in the future to feel bad from this disease that robs so much.”
Me, E-Woods, that really touches me, reaffirms our future society is in good hands with kids like Brooklyn.
I remember seeing Amar’e Stoudemire and Steve Nash of the Suns some years ago. I asked myself, which one would I rather have known about and been able to follow in middle school?
Nash of course. How did he perfect his jumper, he couldn’t jump as high as Amar’e. No matter. S-Nash had to perfect his passing, because Amar’e couldn’t be passed on the prep and college recruiting list.
What ultimately mattered? Your hoop IQ, skills, and heart is what propelled Nash to be to be an NBA MVP, not Amar’e. Brooklyn is showing signs of being a Steve Nash, who watched the ultimate gym rat Chris Mullin from Golden State Warriors of the 90’s.
Who has witnessed Brooklyn’s evolution since 3rd grade? That same dope, dope trainer who was on the court and witnessed Lebron at ABCD camp when he was in high school: George Albanez. I’ve known G-Albanez for decades and have never hardly heard him speak so high about a kid.
George, tell us what’s up with this great kid. “Brooklyn, she’s just a professional bucket getter. I remember her in 3rd grade. She analyzed the pro drills we did, noticed there was an unneeded hiccup in transition from one skill to another and she asked me, ‘Why not collapse this to maximize effectiveness?’
“How could we waste movements in the routine of our training she said. Basically, she called BS on a pro level session, in 3rd grade, that’s how type A she is. Her IQ is so progressive, it shows how she wants to better herself and all the others around her.
“Some young kids can take pot shots at harnessing their energy in a pro level workout. I do intense, kick your butt kind of workouts. This girl has the motor to maximize every minute, all session long at a high level session with no let ups.
“I don’t let up on her, I blast her as hard as anyone who trains with me. I treat this kid like a pro adult, because I care. Brooklyn loves to train with Amber Melgoza from Washington and my daughter Keani, who plays professional ball in Switzerland.
“We all tell her, we believe in you, we hope you end up being better than us. Work at it and you can be. This girl Brooklyn gets it, like few I’ve ever seen. That kid is trying to master the game at an early age.
“If she gets over 6-0 tall, it’s over, she could be a Diana Taurasi level player. She has that inner confidence, that mental focus, she has a great jumper. In 3rd grade we put her to play vs. elite junior high 8th kids. She did work on them all, did circles around them with her dribbling.
“That was only possible because Brooklyn doesn’t kid herself. She knows it takes 3-4 hours a day of training to constantly get better, she even plays in the JBL.
“You never have to ask her to get to work, she’s already at work when you show up. When you’re asleep she’s probably dissecting some aspect of the game to understand. She could be the one.”
Another indicator of her “go getter-ness?” Brooklyn is excited to engage in the recruiting process. She even reached out both to a Pac-12 program in LA and an Ivy League program on the east coast recently. They offered her a school visit to talk with coaches and watch their games.
Now you know I wouldn’t put a young kid out there unless she had it like few others I’ve witnessed, and shown tremendous maturity.
So go out and see this dope baller for yourself. How often do you find a future medical researcher who could be that one to cure a devastating disease, to cure herself of the need to be a WNBA pro?
