Oops, I made a mistake. When listing the best middle school players in the city, I made a glaring omission. My failure to list one the best middle school kids was pointed out by the General Manager of her club team. In an email, he basically told me that no middle school list could be complete without including her. I previously heard little of her and had yet to see her, but I took heed to his statement. I started to ask those that had seen this great little point guard about her skill set. I increasing got the same response; she is the real deal. But, since I had yet to see her personally, I felt that I could not talk too much about her. Until now!
I still have not seen Leslie Vorphal play but I can no longer ignore her brilliance. The reason why came in a phone call this morning. The call went something like this:
Caller: Man, have you seen Vorphal?
Me: No, but I heard she can go. Can she really go?
Caller: Hey, the girl can GO! She gave us problems this last tournament and was a headache for us.
Me: Is she really that nice? Can she be mentioned with McKenzie, Cee', and Destiny?
Caller: For sure! She is just as good as any of them.
Me: WOW!!!!
Now, this was no ordinary caller. The caller was coach of the best middle school team in the city. The team routinely goes to basketball hotbeds like Dallas and Houston and gives more than they take. For this coach to say that Vorphal is as good as, if not better than, McKenzie( McKenzie Calvert is a 2014 that has received college attention and is expected to be nationally ranked by Jr Phenoms later this summer), Cee'( Recee' Caldwell is a 2014 and has been getting college letters since she was 11 and recently received her first offer from a Division 1 college) and Destiny(Destiny Amezquita is a rising freshman at Jay high school who routinely scored in the 40's in middle school games) was a shocker to me. This coach is known to be objective but tough in regards to giving his endorsement. For him to cosign this kid was all I needed to know.
Now I am as anxious as a young kid waiting for the new Sponge Bob episode to see the remarkable Leslie Vorphal. Word is that, she will go to Churchill next year and I can not wait to get a glimpse of her. I am told that her basketball IQ is great and she moves extremely well without the ball. Like all three of the above mentioned girls, she is accustomed to playing up a few years, so contributing on varsity next year should be no problem. I probably would not be going out on much of a limb when I say that she is the front runner for her districts "Newcomer of the Year"(Rising Reagan freshman Moriah Mack may have something to say about that).
Vorphal plays with the SA Heat, who recently participated in the Showtime National top division. It is good to see San Antonio kids continue to be exposed to our nations' elite basketball teams and players. Girls like Vorphal will help continue the momentum that past and present SA players have generated. Hopefully the future will see San Antonio mentioned in the same breath as Dallas and Houston in regards to producing great ball players.
