1996, I’m walking to an interview at Hooper Elementary in LA, which is three stories tall, has 5,000 kids, not a blade of grass, with a full size court in the middle of a bleak, bleak campus.
PE? Two 15-minute slots a week per class, that’s it. Is that fair, is that sad? It’s the things we see which can’t be unseen that sometimes stay with us the most. What have you seen like that with inadequate facilities, what have you seen that you cannot unsee, people?
It could be worse. My guy Jorge who balled at UCSB in the 90s told me that in his hometown of São Paulo, Brazil, he wanted to live in his high school locker because it was common for teenagers that take the bus that if you fall asleep at the train station, organized gangs will drag your body away, kidnap you to a dastardly doctor of death, and harvest your organs for big profit.
Why do I describe these troubling images? Because for every situation where some are denied the basics, some are given a helping hand up, a physical space for the ages.100.
Corona Centennial High girls’ hoop has a real one, Gary Curry, who funded a great locker room to inspire pride. Gary hopes it inspires another parent or person to create a similar locker room for another school.
How much did it cost? $18,000, the price a kid could go from having a good locker room to one for the ages locker room. I was told $10,000 on the actual lockers, $8,000 for miscellaneous labor and materials, so there you go.
Why is E-Woods inspired to tell this, why is this so personal for me you ask? Because of the love of a dad to do right for his girls at school, to leave a legacy to future kids deserving a special locker room.
Maybe it’s also because my own pops Randy Woods passed last week. He was a dope dad that cared and I dedicate this story to all dads that go all out for others,
If you know me, I’m really, really into girls prep hoop in Cali, have my PhD in it, one could say.
So I could’ve picked to write about Sierra Canyon’s locker, talked about how WNBA’s Kennedy Burke just told me of her deep experiences that helped her get to UCLA out of that locker room. Coach Alicia Komaki deserves serious props.
I could’ve also talked of Mater Dei’s epic locker room and fabulous gym, how Kobe went to speak there to the girls, how Coach Kevin Kiernan is a legend, real one to the game.
I could have spoken of Noelle Quinn, living epic coach for the ages at Bishop Montgomery, her locker room. She Facetimes with WNBA stars to offer her girls that next, next level dope advice. How many girls coaches have won chips in the W?
I could go on about how Windward coach Vanessa Nygaard, that dope former WNBA coach that is an expert, uses her whiteboard in the locker room to get down some nice instructions.
Did you guys know at Windward High, they have like 12 non-uniformed security guards to protect the kids and an underground bunker that can be used in any manner of disaster to outlast anything? Security had E-Woods all frisked up when I got within 100 feet of that campus once! Kudos and yikes!
I could go on about the ever incredible coach Terri Bamford of La Jolla Country Day who graciously invited me give a pep talk last year as they were the #1 prep team in the country winning the ever prestigious TOC, Tournament of Champions.
Coach Jarod Honig of Granada Hills and Ray Bennett round out those ultra dope coaches with locker rooms that exhibit next level heart, sweat, and room full of players that play their butts off no doubt! Salute, salute!
It wouldn’t be an E-Woods unique feature unless I took the gloves off and really put it down for this Corona Centennial locker room.
You ready? Buckled up people? Here’s some billowing smoke - don’t cough, someone might kick you out for thinking you have Covid-19.
It’s not just the physical locker room that’s so special at The 10. What about the guard play that they will feature next season. What’s the guard play? Ready to hear, can you handle the truth?
I know of no less than 5 D-1 players that are on the roster to suit up for Centennial guard spots. Four of these guards are projected to be elite high major guards for the ages.
Really E-Woods? Really. That’s rewriting the books, that’s not on 1, not even on 10, that’s on 100 people. I just fell out my chair. Lol!
Wha, ha, ha-how could that be, you sure E-Woods? Yup. It’s love, it’s sharing, it’s destiny! I won’t offer names but I know all these great girls.
They’re the most wonderful people you can imagine and the forwards and centers for C-Centennial are also really good too. But we are talking about history being made, a constant 3 guard relentless attack for the ages, unlike anything high school sports has ever seen at the guard spot fosho, fosho!
It’s mind boggling to think you have girls going into C-Centennial that have gold medals hanging around their necks for representing their country but they just want to share a sisterhood, to combine their talents.
What Centennial will attempt to do this year is what La Jolla Country Day did last year: seamless, driven, detailed, classy, epic, on a roll for the ages.
For those that only follow boys prep hoops and the NBA, let me try to offer a comparison of the talent of this projected Centennial backcourt. Imagine a backcourt like this: Jalen Green, Josh Christopher, Devin Askew, Dior Johnson, Skyy Clark in one backcourt.
Mind bogging, yes, for the ages. Exciting to contemplate? You tell me?
I, among others, believe Centennial’s coach can mold this offense to feature five individual guards, yet still do justice to each one’s talent.
If this Centennial girls’ prep backcourt were an NBA backcourt, imagine this line up on one team: James Harden, Steph Curry, Russell Westbrook, Ja Morant, and Chris Paul.
Hmmmm, gulp, that’s heat, that’s for the ages. 200.
Do you the reader see how this story exists on different levels? It’s personal for everyone involved, caring is sharing, yes ma’am! Can it work? I think so, the kids involved do too.
Can a lineup of 4-5 high majors capture a top 5 ESPN ranking? That’s what Centennial is going to find out. And so is Mater Dei, so is Windward, not to mention Sierra Canyon too. Leave them out of the convo at your own peril. They just reload and outpace hater expectations.
This isn’t just a story of a locker room and its physical space, it’s the motivational talks that will happen in this locker room that excite me most to contemplate. Imagine being a part of this grand experiment in uber talent, all combining for synergy that’s for the freaking ages!
It’s one dad’s love, vision to donate a locker room that I wish each prep team could enjoy.
So this is E-Woods challenge: are you up to making that difference, helping out to create a locker room to remember, honestly?
Yes, Gary donated the funds but he actually donated something far greater - his vision and moral support to have his 2 daughters Jayda & Layla to give their spirit to this program. To that I salute you G.
Can you handle this story getting more crazy?
More dope, truth be told. The coach of Centennial has never recruited a kid to leave another school and enroll at Centennial, that’s not him.
All the kids that are likely to land at The 10 are local and genuinely love each other. They are natural friends and want to ride and die for the cause of playing together, and really, how dope is that?
Since I’m privy to all things girls prep, people tell me what’s up. Sad part, a special girl was recruited to leave Centennial a year ago and that loss has left a huge hole in the hearts of the Centennial players that miss her.
Crazy part? Imagine a world where coaches, those self absorbed coaches, didn’t have to be sneaky to each other in order to make them feel good about themselves. That’s something to consider.
I rarely, rarely make this proclaimed opinion, but I wish my own daughter Giselle played for this Centennial coach, wish she could enjoy that locker room, wish she could play for a team on a mission, surf-riding in destiny’s wave to win it all.
All the good coaches I spoke of in this feature I believe would’ve made my pops proud had he ever watched girls basketball. But it’s bigger than hoops, bigger than a locker room - Randy Woods used to send money to kids in South America to help them cover the cost of school books and food if need be. Maybe they used his bread to buy sports equipment, I dunno.
All I know is there’s a locker room to end all locker rooms at Corona Centennial.
It had a real one dad donate the funds to build it, has the most dynamic phenom players that inhabit it, a mad awesome graphic arts teacher that coaches it, and an appreciative writer who is humbled to contemplate what might just go down in it this year.100.
