Stoneridge Prep: Future Oak Hill of the West

Nestled in the San Fernando Valley rests Stoneridge Prep, a school driven by coach Ron Slater who seems to have a heart the size of Lake Erie. Slater grew up in Sylmar and played his prep ball in the area a few years back before going on to play for the small NAIA Notre Dame program run by noted California talent evaluator Gerry Freitas. Slater bounced around a bit coaching some junior college hoops but has recently found his calling at Stoneridge Prep which is a unique high school that has a 5th and 6th year option of attending school. They even have a dormitory off campus for out of town kids like the east coast prep schools like Brewster's Academy and South Kent Prep have.

Taj Gibson represents what Stoneridge Prep is all about. He was a class of 2005 kid that struggled academically and was reclassified to the 06' class. He's a native of New York but decided it was his destiny to come out west and be mentored by coach Slater in the same tradition of fellow New Yorker Rafer Alston of the Toronto Raptors who traveled out west a decade ago to get that extra chance for exposure and top level training offered by Phil Matthews of the 1990's. Gibson states, "Stoneridge Prep has been great for me. We travel all around the country and play the top teams around and that's challenging. But what I appreciate the most out here is the personal tutors that go out of their way to make the difference for everyone in the classroom. I can't say enough about all the guys and the situation here in my stay in California." That's deserving praise from a kid that is a tremendous person and high major caliber talent.

Local talents such as fellow reclassified class of 2006 Jonathan Gibson from the Covina area transferred to Stoneridge Prep for reasons other than academics: to solidify their reps as a high major player. Stoneridge Prep went 19-5 record last year playing all over the country. Since they're not included in CIF sanctioned games they can't play locally. Slater would like to change that situation so that his kids could experience the fun of playing local teams. This hoops program is very strong with impressive wins over IMG Academy from Florida and they've been competitive with the likes of Philadelphia Lutheran. One sees this team traveling around the country and the getting the exposure level that the traditional powers of Westchester, Fairfax, and Mater Dei usually only enjoy nationwide.

Some have noted that Slater's desire to focus on elite caliber athletes coming to Stoneridge Prep has taken away emphasis from the already enrolled students on campus. Slater explains his long term vision to ensure equity, "We're excited that our program will potentially have 15 elite high majors in the next year or two on campus but we're planning on having two teams to accommodate all the kids and their levels of play. One team to play competition based locally and another like we did this past year that will sign up for the most competitive situations. This will allow for great exposure opportunities for all the kids from this school."

Others in the local area have also taken to criticizing Slater for some of the kids at Stoneridge Prep being on campus too long past their eighteenth birthday. He responds, "Just taking over this year we have some kids that were in the program and have stayed longer than I'd have liked to see kids in high school. But with more of the kids that I have brought in you will see less kids being here for long periods past a normal 4th year in high school. I just care about kids getting a free ride to college; I just want them to have a good time and be able to benefit from a competitive program that travels a lot, cares about each other, and has fun in the process. I don't listen to all the negativity that others try to dump on us. I'm just here for the kids and want them to have the guidance that was given me growing up."

Personally, after conducting much research on Slater, his staff, and the set up at Stoneridge Prep I'd have to agree that from the standpoint of an educator that he is good for kids and is up to the challenge of creating a premier basketball program. Amazingly, all the kids rave about Slater whose official job on campus is that of the daytime security chief. That role fits him because of his strong stature and caring demeanor in the past few months researching this story. Slater has the support of his school principal and with about a half dozen kids recently going off to play in academically minded DI/DII colleges in the past few years one sees that this school has the track record of academic success to enrich the kids that attend.

There is a nice kid named Hassim from the African continent who've I've been following for the past couple of years. He has been diligently waiting for his INS paperwork to be approved to enter the U.S. and is excited to make a new life for himself in the tradition of other recently emigrated kids like Mohamed Tangara who starred at Mt. Zion and now is a freshman at Arizona University. The point is that this kid has a great mentor in Ron Slater to guide him to excellence in his journey toward living up to the expectations. Hassim being seven foot-three inches tall will carry a lot of expectations to be sure. Personally, I was very glad that Hassim ended up at Stoneridge Prep because I know Slater will do right by him in the long run and will care for him in a genuine way. He'll get him transitioned to the different customs and culture in the U.S. and make him a successful person as much as player.

Whether Stoneridge Prep matures into an Oak Hill level program or not is irrelevant. They are lucky to have a coach who cares about them making the grades to get to college. That's something worthy of high praise besides a dream come true for kids in high school.