A Helpful Push : Friendly Muggings in Practice Coaxed North Hollywood’s Nappi From His Shell

Dominic Nappi came to expect pain as a daily minimum requirement for every basketball practice last season. Each time he launched a shot or positioned himself for a rebound he knew the price would be an elbow in the ribs, a forearm to the chest or a smash to the arm.

And the punishment always was delivered by his best friend on the North Hollywood High basketball team--Sean Schray, a 6-2, 175-pound forward and captain of the team.

“We used to practically get into a fight every day at practice,” said Nappi, a 6-7 senior forward who was an All-City Section 3-A Division selection last season. “He would deliberately foul me all the time and threw elbows at me all day long.”

Said Schray: “Every time he moved I threw my body into him hard. I played the post because I had strength and I would always guard Dom. I would make him so mad that he would want to bury the ball.”

Both players remember their battles fondly and agree that the punishment was in fact Schray’s gift to Nappi. Schray has graduated and moved on to Cal State Northridge, leaving a void this season. As it turns out, friends like Schray have been difficult to replace.

“I wouldn’t have done what I did if we weren’t such good friends,” Schray said. “Our friendship allowed me to push him.”

Schray and North Hollywood Coach Steve Miller are central figures in the transformation of Nappi from a timid 10th-grader to an accomplished player who now commands respect among peers and coaches in the East Valley League.

After an undistinguished sophomore season on the junior varsity, Nappi led North Hollywood to a 15-7 record last season and a quarterfinal berth in the City playoffs. He averaged 13.7 points and 8.2 rebounds but made his biggest impact at the end of the regular season and in the playoffs. Nappi was at his best in North Hollywood’s last game, a 66-59 loss to eventual champion Granada Hills and Gary Gray, the 3-A player of the year: He outplayed Gray, scoring 16 points to his 13.

Nappi continued his development in the off-season. He participated in the Metro-Index basketball camp in Pittsburgh where he was selected among the top 30 players and played later last summer in the Superstars camp in Santa Barbara.

After dominating opponents in summer-league games, Nappi expected a big senior season. So far he has averaged 18.4 points and 6.1 rebounds--respectable, not great numbers--for North Hollywood, which is 13-4 and 6-1 with three league games left.

Still, Nappi, who has a 3.5 grade-point average, has drawn attention from Ivy League schools such as Pennsylvania, which seemed a lot farther away than 3,000 miles just two seasons ago.

Nappi entered North Hollywood as a skinny, 6-2, 135-pound sophomore who tried to remain as invisible as possible. By his own admission, he cowered in the school’s hallways and stood only a little taller on the basketball court.

“When I first came here I was a real nobody,” he said. “I was scared of everything and intimidated by everybody, even on the basketball team. Players who I thought I was better than, they dominated me.”

Peter Nappi, a year older than Dominic and a three-year varsity starter at North Hollywood until his graduation last spring, watched his brother struggle through his sophomore season.

“You could tell he was the best player on the team, but guys on the JV team pushed him around. His own teammates were rough on him,” he said.

Miller, whose start at North Hollywood coincided with Nappi’s, also watched junior varsity games in frustration. Nappi grabbed his attention but Miller reasoned that he needed special handling. He instructed Rob Allen, the JV coach at the time, to leave Nappi in every game no matter how he played.

“I told him that other guys who make mistakes have to come out but not Dom,” Miller said. “You have to overlook certain inabilities to get the most out of him. I could see at the end of the rainbow that it was going to be worth it.”

When Nappi joined the varsity for the spring and summer season, he brought a duffel bag full of doubts with him.

“We were supposed to play Marshall in our first game of spring ball but they canceled and at the last minute we found out we had to play Fairfax,” Nappi said. “I looked out of the locker room onto the court and everybody was dunking, even their little guys. I was scared to death.”

But competing against players of the caliber of Chris Mills, Sean Higgins and J. D. Greene improved Nappi’s game. He also flourished under Miller’s care. He put Nappi on a muscle- and confidence-building program: Weight training took care of the muscles and Miller’s relentless optimism cultivated Nappi’s ego.

“He kept telling me I was one of the best players on the court,” Nappi said. “I couldn’t believe it but he was always telling me he was going to make something out of me. A good coach understands the psychological part of the game, and coaching has a lot to do with how a player progresses.”

Teammates noticed the transformation as the season wore on. By playoff time, Nappi had lost his shyness and discovered his confidence. He now demanded the ball in key situations.

Suddenly, a player who lurked in the shadows as a sophomore was overshadowing other players in the league. Grant Coach Howard Levine was stunned by the swiftness of Nappi’s turnaround.

“I don’t remember him as a 10th-grader. He came out of nowhere,” he said. “Maybe I didn’t notice him when he was in his shell, but last year he was as tough as he can be, fighting for every rebound. He was very much sure of himself.”

Miller, however, believes that Nappi’s confidence has waned this season. Tentativeness, it seems, has crept back into his game.

“Last season and during the summer, when Dom get the ball down low, it was two points,” Miller said. “This year, if he gets bumped, it throws him off.

“He had the same fire at the start of the season as he had last year, but the second ankle injury threw him off,” Miller said. “He’s having a good season but not a great one. It’s a psychological thing. He’s afraid to come down on his ankles.”

Fear of another ankle injury may have impeded his play, admitted Nappi, who insisted he will remove all doubts by playoff time.

“The playoffs were when I was at my peak and it’s going to be the same this year,” he said. But there may be more to his play this season than injuries. Competition at practice is stiffer with 6-3 sophomore Dana Jones 6-3 and senior Rashe Dorsey, a transfer from Van Nuys, added to the lineup, but an ingredient is absent--the Sean Schray factor.

Said Schray: “Nobody on that team cares enough about him like I did. I realize I wasn’t good enough to go further in basketball, so I wanted to do what I could to help Dominic. There isn’t anything I wouldn’t do for him.”

Nappi says he misses his friend. “Overall, the competition is better in practice, but there’s no one on this year’s team who does the same thing he did. I miss him. He concentrated on making me the best player I can be.”