Basketball might just mean the world to Katon Brown. As a sophomore, he has been playing ball for ten years now, practices five hours a day in and out of school, and has high hopes of playing in college.

As of right now, he is the starting center for the Varsity Bears and is making his presence on the court known to everyone.

“Katon is long, athletic, and pretty good at everything,” assistant Coach Brad Jeffcoat said. “He is a good ball handler, a good passer, a great rebounder, and a very good slasher going to the goal. His rebounding has really improved over the course of this season, but his attitude and ability to be coached has been his most important improvement.”

Just last week, Brown helped the Bears to a 61-52 victory over the West Orange-Stark Mustangs with 18 points, 10 rebounds and three blocks. For him, this was a big win because his goal going into the game was to make a statement to all the teams in the district.

“The highlight of the game for me was when our team fought back when we were down,” Brown said. “Coach talked to us and said the first two minutes of the third quarter says a lot about how the game is going to go, and last night ended up being the best game I’ve ever played. Coming into the gym, people from WOS came up to me and said, ‘WOS is about to beat y’all,’ so we had to make our stand.”

According to Brown, his goal for this season is to make it further in the playoffs than the team did last year. It hasn’t always been easy – the team worked to overcome their 0-3 run earlier in the season and succeeded after defeating Hamshire Fannett in the first district game.

An essential part of playing any sport is having a support system and for Brown, his happens to be the two men that are there for every single game and every single practice. 

“Coach Harley and Coach Jeffcoat are my biggest inspiration in all of my years playing basketball,” Brown said. “Even when our team is down, they tell me what I need to do so our team can be successful.”

Darin Harley, the head coach for the Bears, and Jeffcoat, have been coaching Brown for three years and they both agree that his allowance for them to coach him has been his biggest improvement.

“Katon has all the physical tools needed for great success,” Harley said. “He must continue to develop more work ethic/execution towards the game of basketball in order for continued success.”

Jeffcoat said he appreciates Brown not only as a key player for the Bears, but as someone who can eventually lead the way for the rest of the team.

“He’s matured a lot and he’s learned to play hard all the time,” Jeffcoat said. “Hopefully he improves in all facets of the game. I’d also like to see him step up as a leader for us.”