The Recovery Ward : Guard Healing Wounds at Valley College After Academic Fall

Steve Ward remembers it as his summer of discontent.

Last year, after a senior season in which he averaged 25 points a game at Calabasas High, Ward was prepared to accept a basketball scholarship to the University of Washington. However, the scholarship never materialized after a review of his high school transcripts showed that he lacked several courses necessary for admission.

Ward spent the remainder of his senior year and three long summer months mired in a deep depression. He became sluggish and withdrawn, this player whose practice routine had included taking 300 shots and 150 free throws a day.

“I was a total bum,” Ward said. “I didn’t do anything. It was a bad time.”

But Ward, a freshman at Valley College this season, seems to be back on the road to good times after returning from his self-imposed exile. The 6-5 guard-forward is concentrating on school and demonstrating the touch that made him the eighth-best scorer in the Southern Section and fourth best in the Valley area last season.

Ward is averaging 25 points a game for the Monarchs, shooting 62% from the field and making 48% of his three-point attempts. He began the season with a dour attitude but has regained the enthusiasm for the sport he began playing as a 7-year-old on Philadelphia playgrounds.

“Sometimes it’s tough because a lot of my friends went on to four-year schools,” Ward said. “To see them up there, I’m happy for them, but sometimes I wish I could be up there, too. Hopefully, I’ll get my chance.”

There doesn’t seem to be much doubt among Ward-watchers that he eventually will progress into the four-year ranks. Ward agrees with scouts and coaches who think he needs to rebound more and move better without the ball. His ability to shoot, however, is rarely questioned.

“He’s probably the best shooter I’ve ever coached,” Valley Coach Jim Stephens said. “He’s coming along. It’s an adjustment for him. He had his sights set on Division I.”

Ward’s vision of playing in the Pacific 10 began to get cloudy last season when Calabasas lost a first-round playoff game to Azusa, 61-59, at home. Ward became distraught afterward. “I just kind of lost sight of school,” said Ward, who moved to California with his family when he was 11. “It was tough. I think I was trying to stay away from school because every time I went back, it brought back memories of losing.”

Those feelings were tame compared to the ones Ward experienced when he was informed that he lacked some of the core courses required for admission to Washington.

“I didn’t really talk to the counselors that much because I always thought I had good grades,” Ward said. “I probably should have talked to them more in retrospect, but I’m not going to blame the counselors because it was my fault more than anyone else.”

Ward’s problems continued to mount after the bad news. Instead of telling people about his misfortune--and possibly attracting the attention of another school--he turned inward.

“It was kind of embarrassing,” he said. “When I found out I wasn’t going to be able to go up to school, that was the worst feeling I’ve ever been through.

“I also had a little trouble at the end of school sometimes with senioritis. It all kind of came together and made it pretty tough on me--and in the end it led to my downfall.”

Rather than going to a four-year school just for the sake of being at that level, Ward decided in September to attend a junior college. Valley was an easy choice. It was the only school that would accept his application at such a late date.

“I didn’t tell the coach I was coming,” Ward said. “I just showed up.”

Imagine Stephens’ surprise when Ward walked into the gym.

Stephens was back at Valley, where he had coached for 10 years, after a one-year stint with the defunct Pierce program and two years coaching the Valley women’s team. He didn’t have any great expectations based on returning personnel.

But there, standing before him, was Ward. A player who could shoot. A player who knew the game. A player whose inactivity during the summer turned a 185-pound, sleek-shooting guard into a 210-pound slow-footed forward.

“He was overweight,” Stephens remembered. “I said, ‘That’s Steve Ward? That’s a fake Steve Ward.’ ”

Uncovering the real Ward wasn’t easy.

Early workouts that consisted of physical conditioning drills wore away the pounds while Stephens’ mental conditioning simply wore on Ward. The coach and the player, whom Stephens described as “another coach on the floor,” were headed for a confrontation.

It happened at the Crown City tournament in Pasadena three weeks ago, during a game between Valley and Canyons.

Ward knew he wasn’t playing well during the first half and was pulled from the game. On the sideline, in front of teammates and fans, Stephens grilled him.

“He said a lot of things I can’t even repeat,” said Ward, who went on to score 40 points in the 110-101 loss to Canyons. “It woke me up. At the time I was mad, but now I’ve discovered that he had to do it. Now I think I’m understanding him a little bit better. At the start I don’t think I wanted to understand.

“He was just trying to help me get my act together. It got me back into focus.”

Since the Canyons game, Ward’s overall play has improved. He is scoring, running the court and rebounding with aggressiveness.

“He’s rounding into a fine basketball player,” Canyons Coach Lee Smelser said. “Everyone has to make the adjustment to a quicker game when they move up a level and it just took Steve some time.”

Ward and Stephens are both hoping it won’t take much longer for Valley to get on the winning track. The Monarchs (3-14) are a young team still struggling to find a winning chemistry as Southern California Conference play draws near.

As for the future, Ward is not sure where he will play when he finishes at Valley. Dick Baird, recruiting coordinator at Washington, said the Huskies intend to follow Ward--but with the numbers he’s putting up, so are other schools.

Ward’s desire to play professional basketball like fourth cousins Dominique and Gerald Wilkins remains alive, but he’s concentrating on school and basketball one day at a time.

“I know after two years, if nothing comes of it, I can walk away clean because I know I gave it my best shot,” Ward said. “I’m thinking about real estate, but I’ve also become interested in sports psychology.

“With all the stuff I’ve been through, I think I can help some people.”