View Park boys and girls basketball teams have been running through the smalls schools division for some time now, racking up City Section titles nearly every year. Those days are not over, but they are about to get dramatically tougher.
The City Section has created an open division for the playoffs, which will take the top eight teams in the city, regardless of division or school size. This means that, if selected, View Park will be in the mix with the toughest schools in the area.
Division I in the City Section has always featured the top teams, such as Westchester, Fairfax, Taft, Crenshaw, and a few others that have battled it out at the highest level of boys basketball. On the girls side, Narbonne, Fairfax, Carson, and a others have been the cream of the crop.
Boys coach Ken Henderson and girls coach Corry Thomas weigh in on the tougher competition.
“I think that it will be a challenge going into the open division, coming from playing in the lower divisions,” Henderson said. “But I think that the kids here are willing to take up the challenge. They are going to come out and play as hard as they can to show that they belong in those upper division games.”
Thomas is preparing his girls to take on the toughest opponents possible.
“I just know that in practice, what we do game in and game out, is prepare our team in case we do have to go open,” Thomas said. “If we do go open, it’s a big step for us as far as the program because we’ve been playing with the small schools for so long, so we don’t get the credit that most of these other schools get. But we’re going to be excited for the opportunity if it does come, if we do get selected for the open division.”
This opportunity shows how dominant this program has been, and what the City Section thinks of View Park.
“For them (City Section) to consider us to enter the open, that means we’re doing something right,” Thomas said. “If they’re going to consider us to play with those teams (from larger schools), that means we’re headed in the right direction.”
Playing against the best teams in the playoffs can give View Park exposure.
“I think that it will affect the program in positive ways overall, because I think that we will attract players to come to a smaller school like us, knowing that they can play tougher competition,” Henderson said.
“I know for us, if we do get into the open, I think that more of the kids who go to the top schools, and their parents, would start to consider us, due to the fact that we’re going to play with the bigger schools,” Thomas said.
The exposure will also help View Park get into the larger pre-season tournaments, as they are often passed up for larger, more prominent schools.
The program may not win as many titles, but moving the program forward is more important.
“Some people may be down about it, because they really want to play for the Division IV title, but I’m excited about the opportunity because it will help us build our program,” Thomas said. “We’ll be able to compete with everybody else, and it will let us know where we’re at. We would like to have hardware at the end of the day, but we also want to make progress with the program.”
