All Signs Point North

Watauga's Damian Edwards Sees Growth In Body ... And Game

By Mark Mitchell

mmitchell@mountaintimes.com

Watauga's Damian Edwards has hit a growth spurt. He see the physical growth every time he looks in the mirror. Opposing players and coaches see the basketball growth every time he steps on the court. A year removed from being a 5 feet nine-inch tall sophomore who came off the bench to score 4.8 points per game, Edwards is now a 6 feet one-inch tall starting junior who leads the Pioneers in scoring at 16.8 points per game.

While Edwards knows he has no control over the changes he sees in his body, the soft-spoken Pioneer said he also knows any continued growth on the basketball court will come through something he can control ... hard work.

"I have many areas that I need to improve upon," Edwards said after a recent practice. "I need to work on my mid-range shot and I need to improve my quickness and my vertical jump by getting into the gym. You always have to work to get better."

Edwards speaks from experience when it comes to improvement, as the junior improved not only his points-per-game average by 12 points from a season ago, but also upped his numbers in field-goal percentage; 3-point-shooting percentage; free-throw percentage; rebounds; assists; steals and blocked shots. For the season, the Pioneer junior averages the aforementioned 16.8 points per game, six rebounds, 3.4 assists, 3.4 steals and 1.8 blocks (which comes to 32 on the year).

"To tell you the truth, I just try to play my game," Edwards said about his quantum leap in individual statistics. "I have worked hard to become a better player, but we have a lot of great players on this team who can score, so I just concentrate on doing what I can to help."

One key improvement Edwards made to his game was to change sort of an important skill for a basketball player ... shooting.

"Coach (Watauga High School head coach Rob) Sanders helped me after the end of last year with my shooting motion," Edwards said. "He said I needed to get the ball higher at release. Instead of shooting near my chest area, he got me shooting from the shoulder area. I shot a lot with the new motion over the summer."

Edwards didn't stop there when it came to the influence Sanders has had on him, saying all advise he receives from the Watauga head coach does not pertain to hoops.

"He (Sanders) is always there for you whenever you need him," Edwards said. "He's like another father figure to have around. When you have questions about different things, he has the answer."

When Edwards does have a question, his head coach said the junior is quick to absorb the answer.

"Damian is one of the most coachable players that I've had in that he rarely needs to be told or shown something twice and always puts forth his total effort in what he is asked to do," Sanders said.

One question Edwards quickly answered himself was what does he do as he sees teams keying more and more on stopping him.

"That's has happened as the season has progressed, but that's when I have to know to get my teammates the ball," Edwards said. "I know that any of these guys (points to teammates) can come up big on any night if teams try to double team me."

While Edwards said his attention is on being a better teammate and helping his team win, the man his teammates have nicknamed "Spiderman" because of his long arms, admitted that he hopes he has a chance to continue his basketball aspirations at the next level.

"I would love the chance to play college ball," the slender Pioneer said as a smile crossed his face. "I have things I have to improve on to make that happen, and I know getting in a gym and beefing up is one of the things that would help."

While the immediate future Edwards encounters will deal with dribbling and shooting, his head coach sees something else possibly in his future.

"I'd have to say that the most impressive thing about Damian to me is his basketball IQ," Sanders said. "He sees and understands the game like a coach, which obviously makes him a lot of fun to coach. His basketball IQ allows him to truly take advantage of his strengths and successfully hide any weaknesses. When his playing days are over, if he chooses, he'd make one heck of a coach."