Passion trumps size any day

November 17, 2016Sports0

Elijah Fuller may stand just 6 feet tall, but the heart he plays with makes him a force on the court.

Basketball is more than just a game to Fuller; it’s a career path. The work ethic he pours into the game may be what takes him far.

Fuller is the Saints’ shooting guard, out of Yelm High School, near Olympia, Washington. He’s been playing basketball since first grade. He started really taking basketball seriously his freshman year, where he was a varsity player.

At the time, he was only 5 feet 6 inches and 120 pounds, and was a point guard. By graduation he weighed 140, but he immediately hit the weight room his freshman year at Yakima Valley College and now weighs 175 pounds. After an injury at Yakima, he transferred here to Mt. Hood this season.

While point guard is Fuller’s true position, he says, he’ll play wherever is best for the team. “It’s about being the player my team needs me to be,” he said.

In truth, he’s a scoring-first point guard, much like Stephen Curry, his basketball role model.

“I watch a full game of Steph every night before I go to bed… I love Steph,” Fuller said of the Golden State Warriors star. Curry is just 6 feet 3 inches in a league filled with dominant scorers 6 feet 5 inches and above. It’s not that he’s an unusually small point guard; in fact, he’s right at the NBA average for point guards. But don’t be mistaken, there’s nothing average about the two time MVP Curry.

It only makes sense Fuller would model his game after Curry, considering their similarities and abilities.

“It’s his decisiveness, how much of a magician he is,” Fuller explained. “The way he can maneuver someone else’s body to get around them, as a smaller guard… When I watch him all I see is his confidence.”

Fuller said he works to be quick and ferocious with the ball, forcing the defender to question whether he will drive inside. His main threat is his jump shot, much as with Curry. He’s best on the catch-and-shoot, but quickly adds, “Aren’t we all?” He has the ability to pull up and shoot, or get to the lane and fade away. He’s a versatile scorer who should help the Saints on offense.

Putting in the work

Mt. Hood head coach John Hawley likes what he sees in Fuller.

“Obviously he has athleticism, his work ethic is great. He spends extra time in the gym and that’s the kinda kids that we want to recruit,” Hawley said. “We want kids that want to spend the extra time to become better basketball player, become a better person and a better teammate. And I think thats what Elijah was looking for… he was at another school (Yakima), and sometimes like I said, the fit is not right…

“Elijah has worked real hard, his offensive game has been real good. He played really well last Sunday, and shot the ball real well,” the coach added. He also credits Fuller for working on his weak points, and helping the Saints focus on player accountability. “We want them to be men and except responsibility of mistakes they make, and he has done a great job at that.”

In truth, the part of Fuller’s game he models the most from Curry is the confidence he plays with. Those who watch Curry on the court have no doubt he feels like he can’t miss. His face says it all, and that’s what Fuller is trying to take from him, he said. Basketball is so much about a player’s confidence in his game, and Fuller has learned that early on. Look at all of the great players over the last 50 years: They all play with an element of arrogance, an ego. Kobe, Michael, LeBron, Magic, Bird, they play with ultimate confidence that allows them to take their game to the next level. And Fuller has noticed.

While he’s at Mt. Hood right now, Fuller has all the intent in the world to take his game to a Division 1 school. He laughs that he’d be willing to go to schools such as Duke or Kentucky. “I want to go as high as I can; Division 1 is obviously the goal… If I put the work in and I put everything into God’s hands, its like if I don’t go D-1 then it wasn’t God’s plan,” he said.

Looking ahead

From there he says, “I just want to go to the NBA. No Plan B’s… If you got a Plan B, then you think Plan A is going to fail.”

Saints assistant coach Nate Bowie said, “He’s got the talent for D-1, he’s just got to be willing to put in the work. He could be our best scorer.”

Fuller doesn’t allow himself to just focus on offense though. He knows there’s two sides to the game, one just as important as the other. “Defense is always key, that’s how you win games. We always focus on that at practice,” he said.

Teammate John Tibbs had high praise for him, “He brings the uncontrollable work ethic that can’t be scaled.”

Fuller knows no matter how much confidence he plays with that at the end of the day, what he puts in is what he’ll get out. Right now he’s putting in everything he’s got.