It wasn’t all three-point jump shots and reinforcing team defensive principles.
A renewed focus on developing strength in the weight room proved the Evanston Township High School Wildkits are tired of being pushed around physically by the Central Suburban League – and they’re determined to do something about it.
Even a casual fan would have noticed that, to a man, the potential varsity players who
competed in a 30-game schedule over the past month did a better job of playing through contact than they have over the past couple of seasons. The summer scenario features games where the officials take a “no concussion, no foul” stance and the whistle almost never blows.
The Wildkits didn’t just survive in those conditions – they thrived.
In high-profile shootouts at Batavia, Riverside-Brookfield and Ridgewood, Evanston won 10 of 13 games while featuring a lineup that includes two returning starters from a year ago, brothers Theo Rocca and Vito Rocca, a couple of transfers in point guard Kaidan Chatham (Niles North) and 6-foot-6 forward George Richardson (DePaul Prep), plus freshman guard Ben Ojala.
In a league where only the strong survive, the Kits are poised to power their way back to the top of the CSL South division standings under head coach Mike Ellis and under the guidance of strength and conditioning coach Mark Feldner, who supervises training for all of the school’s boys and girls athletic programs.
Feldner’s in the Arrington Fitness Center from dawn until dusk Mondays through Fridays, and this year the hopefuls in the basketball program are joining him as a group for early bird workouts that begin at 6:30 a.m.
Ever since taking over the program in 2010, Ellis has instituted mandatory lifting for all of his players. But since COVID impacted player development, some have found reasons not to show up in the weight room on a regular basis to take advantage of the opportunity to work hard and get better.
Now there are no excuses, even for players who have summer jobs. That’s why Ellis and Feldner scheduled the 6:30 a.m. sessions for the entire team.
“COVID-19 really hurt the weight room culture,” said Feldner, who is in his fifth year at ETHS after 14 years as head of the fitness program at Niles North. “When it hit, the kids didn’t know if they could lift at all. Would we be inside; would we be outside? They got out of the habit of lifting.
“Now I feel like we’ve finally made it back from the challenges of COVID. This is the best
attendance we’ve ever had. Coach Ellis and I wanted to re-set the culture in the weight room, so we said let’s go at 6:30 in the morning and there will be no excuses for anyone. And they haven’t missed a day. They’ve done a great job and they’ve been incredibly dedicated. Every one of them is starting to see that ‘oh, wow, this can work for me!’ And I think they all function better now that they’re coming in together as a team.”
Feldner’s day starts early. Aided by volunteer assistant Sean O’Connor, who works primarily with younger students, there are group sessions for the boys basketball and football teams in the mornings with fifth- through eighth-graders scheduled just before noon.
Individuals flow into the second-floor facility after that, including an introductory class at 12:30 p.m. for incoming freshmen or others who haven’t lifted in the past.
“Over the past year, I think they’ve started re-connecting to life again,” added Feldner. “Now they understand what’s available here at Evanston, a high-level facility with a high level of instruction. It’s really very simple for a high school athlete. Show up, do things right, then come back tomorrow and do it again. If you’re serious about being athletic, that’s what it takes.”
More than 60 basketball players have answered their alarm clocks early on a daily basis to put in the work necessary to get better, including a large group of freshmen and sophomores, according to Ellis.
“When I came here, I promised the kids they would have a college-level experience as much as it was possible,” said the ETHS coach. “Now our student-athletes are part of a [physical education] class during the school year where they can work on their growth and development. When I coached in Peoria [Richwoods], my experience was with a similar demographic of kids. Some of those students couldn’t afford [personal] trainers and playing on travel teams, and it became my philosophy to run a program where that’s unnecessary. They should be able to get it with our team. I don’t want economics to be the reason one player is better than another.”
Theo Rocca, who led the Kits in scoring with a 14-point average last season as a junior, knows that other teams in the CSL regarded Evanston as “soft” physically in the past.
“As a team we were never the bigger and stronger team,” Rocca pointed out, “so other teams attacked us and used that to their advantage. We’ve fallen in love with the 3-pointer and we need to be a lot more aggressive when it comes to attacking the basket.
“I never lifted weights until maybe the summer of my sophomore year, but now I’ve embraced it. Once I started seeing the progress I’ve made on the court, I really liked it. It does take time to see the kind of progress you want. No one has any conflicts that early in the morning, and that makes it really convenient for everyone. Even though I have to drag myself out of bed, it’s worth it.”
“You get bumped a lot on the basketball court,” Rocca said. “On offense, you want to bump the defender and get a step on him if you can and use that to your advantage. And on defense, you have to be able to hold your ground and not get bullied.”
Stronger – and therefore more confident – players are likely to earn more trips to the free throw line once the regular season begins, too. Since the 2020-21 season, Evanston as a team has averaged 11 free throw attempts per game – 11 again – 16 – and 12 last year, not exactly maximizing any offensive opportunities.
“We need to be stronger and draw more contact,” Ellis said. “We’ve had guys shooting floaters and fadeaway shots the past couple of years while our opponents were strong enough to make shots and finish through contact.
“But to me this is more about the off-the-ball stuff. I’ve noticed already that other teams aren’t able to push us off our spots as easily. They’re not able to body us up and move us. Over the past four years, the other teams in the CSL have pushed us around, to their benefit, and now it’s time for us to get back to who we used to be. Possession by possession, it all adds up.”
Evanston’s on-court work should complement the weight training aspect of the overall
program. Another dawn-til-dusk mentor for the Kits is assistant coach Dante Johnson, who spends so much time in Beardsley Gym that it’s become his home away from home. Johnson, in his third full season on the varsity staff, tries to make himself available for anyone in the program who needs to hone a jump shot, or maybe just hear an encouraging word now and then.
Johnson is a 2018 ETHS graduate who served as a varsity team manager for the program as a junior and senior and is as invested in the program as much as anyone.
“Dante was probably the best manager we’ve ever had in terms of already thinking like a coach,” Ellis said. “He usually had the next drill set up in practice even before we asked him to. He took care of everything and showed how special he was. And now, he’s here in the gym every day as much as I am.”
“I get in about 6,” Johnson said regarding his summer schedule. “We have a grade school camp at 8 and a middle school camp at about 10, and then the other guys come in and want to shoot or have some workouts. You’ve got to be available for them, and I let them know that I’m always going to be around.
“I’m doing something I love and they know where I am if they need me. My goal, like everyone else on the staff, is to help them be the best they can be. And that can’t happen if you’re not there to help them. I think that lifting helps bring the team together and toughness starts in the weight room. When you know you’re strong, and you feel strong, then you play strong. I’ve seen the improvement this summer. Now we have to be confident in the work we’ve put in and use that strength.”
