The East Jackson boys’ basketball program is going places these days – literally.
The team toured both the basketball facilities and campuses of Duke and North Carolina last week during a whirlwind day trip up to Tobacco Road.
First-year coach David Akin said his players tried to play things cool at first, but were awestruck once they stepped out on the floor of Cameron Indoor Stadium at Duke.
“I think we set the record for the most pictures possibly taken ever within an hour period,” Akin said.
Akin said the reaction was the same when they toured the Dean Dome at North Carolina.
The tour of Duke was set up by a friend of Akin’s who works for both the Duke men’s basketball program and USA Olympic basketball staff.
“I told him I had a group of young men who needed to see the Duke excellence and what it was all about … he just said, ‘bring them up,’” Akin said.
Former East Jackson coach David Boyd helped arrange the tour of the North Carolina facility by reaching out to one of his contacts at that university.
Eagle players were unable to meet with head coaches Mike Krzyzewski (Duke) or Roy Williams (North Carolina) but were introduced to assistant coaches, players, other student athletes and alumni.
Akin took 15 players on the trip “but could have filled 10 buses” with students, coaches, teachers and administrators who wanted to tour both schools.
This is all part of Akin’s “aspire to inspire” philosophy. Since arriving on the job, the coach has sought to broaden the team’s horizons. He took the team on a three-state tour during its summer scrimmage schedule and has the Eagles playing in a holiday tournament in Florida this winter. Akin also has plans to enter his team in a tournament in San Diego in future (“Next year, mark it down,” Akin said. “Next year). He wants to drive home the message that “high school is not going to be the best time of my life.” The hope is that exposure to multiple places around the country will help inform players’ decision-making process when selecting a college.
“We’re trying to expose them from day one so they know the differences between the big schools and small schools, and I don’t even necessarily mean for college basketball,” Akin said. “I just mean in general.”
As for the pilgrimage to Duke and North Carolina, this is not the last trip Akin’s team will make to either campus.
“This is the start of a tradition,” Akin said. “I talked with Duke and North Carolina. They would love to have us up every year.”
