As the season is approaching, the Tartan Men’s Basketball Team is also preparing mentally and physically. Sinclair men’s basketball team has been preparing for the season with 12 new recruits and five returning players. Jalen Robertson, who is one of the Tartan’s returning players, seems really excited and ready this season. He was raised in Virginia and graduated from Franklin County High School while also playing for an AAU team called the Brand X. Being recruited for Sinclair last season, Robertson had to make a lot of changes in his game.
“The first year was kind of different, as far as having a lot of guys first semester and then only coming out to about 7 guys second semester. It became harder, you know having to play against teams with more players. We had to go out there and we had to work harder, which was difficult, but we made it through the conference semifinal with only seven players,” Robertson said. “At the end, I thought overall with that many guys it turned out to be a very successful year.”
Robertson said he personally felt like he improved throughout last season.
“I feel like I grew a lot this year compared to last year. As far as my improvement, I feel as if I’ve improved on my strength—my offense has gotten a lot better. I’m able to shoot without worrying. I’ve become a smarter player overall,” Robertson said.
As a power forward and also a center, Robertson was ranked Top 10 in the country for blocks, and also led the conference in blocks. He describes his skills of playing as “I am more of a defensive player, very aggressive, unselfish and coachable.” He said he believes hard work beats talents, and is willing to work hard until he is recruited by a four-year university next fall.
Sinclair has another returning player, Caleb Walker, who is a small forward for the Tartans. Walker, a former graduate from Gahanna Christian Academy in Columbus Ohio, was recruited for Sinclair last year. Walker also played for an AAU team named Hitten Gyms. This will be his second year playing for Coach Price. Ready for the season to start, Walker has been preparing himself mentally and physically.
“Compared to last year, I believed that I’ve improved more on my confidence. My goals this year is to do my roll that would be to be more aggressive on offense, and as well as defense—doing whatever coach wants me to do,” said Walker.
New recruit, Reshadd Harris, is a former player for School of Craft Community College. This will be Harris’ first year and also last year at Sinclair Community College. He graduated from Michigan Collagen high school in 2010, where he earned his basketball scholarship to School Craft Community College. It’s been a long year for Harris because he said he hasn’t been on a college basketball court in four years.
“It took me a long time to grow mentally, and now that I’ve finally got my act together I’ve decided to return back to what I love the most, which is playing basketball. Going through all that I’ve been through has given me a reason to stay motivated and focused this year. Having a second chance really helped me to be more focused in my school work and also with basketball,” said Harris.
He said he’s been working hard on and off the court and paying attention to everything that has to do with the team.
“I’ve been conditioning a lot on my own and also with the team. One thing I can tell you is that the game has slowed down compared to when I first started to play, but that hasn’t stopped me from giving my best performance,” Harris said.
He described his skills of playing as “fierce, competitive and a team player.” He said he thinks of how many people doubted him during his downfall, and that’s what he uses as motivation now. Harris came to Sinclair with a mindset on helping the Tartans win conference this year, and also to graduate.
Sinclair has a lot of talents this year, all three players said that they are not sure on who Coach Price will plan on starting this season. The team is packed with all 17 starters—even the players are being competitive about their starting spot.
Afi Ntolono
Reporter