SAN JOSE – Every coach’s dream in high school sports is to have a talented athlete with stellar grades and solid work ethic. Luckily for new Leland boys' basketball coach Drew Marino, he has a player just like that in guard James Kelbert.
Marino was the assistant coach on last year’s Leland team that fell to Los Altos by four in the Division II title game at Santa Clara University. Kelbert put up 24 points, 10 rebounds, and two assists in that loss and averaged 19 points, 11.8 rebounds, and 3.9 assists per game for that 22-5 squad.
Now, as Marino takes the reins at Leland, he is getting some help from Kelbert
“Personally, it makes things a little easier for me when you have a player like James,” said Marino. “It makes the transition easy for me, and I’m really excited about that.”
Kelbert started playing basketball in the fifth grade when his soccer teammates told him to try it out because he was tall. He tried out on an impulse and quickly became involved in the sport.
“At the time, my focus was more about soccer and baseball,” said Kelbert. “While I still played those, I added another sport into the mix.”
Upon reaching high school, James had transitioned to other sports, participating in water polo in the fall and swimming in the spring, all while playing basketball. Kelbert is also involved in the speech and debate program at Leland. Despite no longer playing soccer, he credits the sport for helping develop him as an athlete.
“Some of my favorite memories are from soccer when I would go to away tournaments and have fun with the team,” said Kelbert. “This was the first exposure I had to traveling and it helped me to adjust to life on the road for basketball and water polo.”
Now heading into his senior year, Kelbert hopes to build off of last year’s momentum.
“What fueled that team was effort and enthusiasm. We stayed focused and determined so we were able to get the job done,” said Kelbert. “The desire to win and succeed was the spark that kindled the flame and I think it will transfer over to this year because we have a similar core of players that can build upon that foundation set up from last year.”
According to Marino, that desire starts with Kelbert.
“He comes out and he’s such a competitor. It's almost second nature to him,” Marino said. “He wants to win so bad and he’s so competitive, and I think that drives him. That allows his teammates to see that, and when your best player is that competitive, it’s easy for the other guys to perform too.”
Although the team has not set specific goals for itself, Kelbert and his teammates are working on their game and continuing to improve. Leland players already completed a summer league season, and Kelbert is also playing AAU for Above and Beyond basketball with coach Mani Messy, whom Kelbert says, “has done a great job coaching of guiding me throughout the past few years.”
Notable players from that team include Gabe Adzich and Curtis Witt from St. Francis, Harker’s Elijah Edgehill, and Bellarmine’s Kieran Bradford. Kelbert also had one more basketball venture for the summer -- the training camp for the U.S. Virgin Island national team and the FIBA tourney in Puerto Rico.
All of Kelbert’s basketball success, paired with an impressive 4.4 grade point average, has opened up opportunities in the future. So far, he has interest from Ivy League schools such as Brown and Princeton and others like MIT and University of San Diego.
Outside of basketball, he hopes to become an emergency room trauma doctor. Some of his favorite classes include biology and calculus. Kelbert also does other activities to stay sharp and relieve stress.
“I like to do a lot of puzzles and try to read as much as I can. I also enjoy doing yoga to cool down from the pressures of the week,” he said.
And with the numbers he put up last season, it looks like BVAL defenders will have to solve the puzzle of James Kelbert, or watch as Leland cruises to another league title.
Follow Jack Duffy on Twitter at www.twitter.com/jduffysports.
