Basketball Players Say Their Sport Is the Most Challenging : High schools: Multiple-sport athletes insist they’re more tested on the court than in the pool or on the field.

What is the most challenging sport in high school athletics?

The question was presented to Jody Anton of Brea-Olinda and Brandon Jessie of Edison, perhaps the two premier high school athletes in Orange County.

Anton was one of the top junior swimmers in the state for nine years as a member of the Anaheim Aquatics Assn. swim club. She was invited to try out for the U.S. national water polo team as a seventh-grader.

She also excelled in soccer, softball and track as a youngster. And for the past three years, Anton, a junior forward, has developed into one of the top high school basketball players in the state.

Jessie, 16, is the son of former NFL receiver Ron Jessie. Unlike Anton, he didn’t play organized sports until he arrived at Edison as a 6-foot-3, 190-pound freshman.

Last year, he averaged 16 points and was an all-Southern Section selection in basketball. This year, he joined the football team midway through the season and caught seven touchdown passes in five games.

Jessie has never competed in track, but plans to run sprints and also compete in the long jump this spring for the first time.

Both are gifted athletes who share the same opinion: Basketball is the true test of an athlete.

“The pace of the game separates it from anything else,” Anton said. “I really enjoyed every sport. But basketball challenges your body and your mind.

“You have to train yourself to jump higher and run faster if you want to be successful just like you would for swimming. But the game is so much more rewarding than swimming.”

An informal Times survey of sports physiology experts concluded that water polo is the most demanding sport in high school. Anton said she considered playing water polo as an alternative to swimming.

“I swam for nine years, so playing water polo was just an extension of swimming,” she said. “Water polo is very physical. Most people don’t understand how hard it is to play the game. It’s very tiresome, but it still doesn’t compare to basketball.”

Jessie, who has never seriously lifted weights, can bench press 225 pounds.

“He can do whatever he wants to do,” said Dave White, Edison football coach. “He was the best athlete in the school as a sophomore.

“I’ve coached some great athletes here, but Brandon has the most God-given ability I’ve ever seen.”

This year, White finally persuaded Jessie to join Edison’s football team at midseason. Jessie averaged 24 yards per catch despite running basic pass patterns.

“We had a play called, ‘Throw it deep and watch him leap,’ which was basically a playground play,” White said. “I told our quarterback (Josh Gingrich) to overthrow Brandon because he seemed to run even faster to get to the ball.”

Jessie said football was fun, but nothing compares to the fast pace of a basketball game.

“It’s exciting and I think the reaction from the crowd gets me pumped up,” he said. “I like the run and gun, shoot and dunk part of the game. I like playing against Cherokee Parks, Tes Whitlock and Mustapha Abdi.

“You want to do your best when you’re on the court with those guys. There’s a lot of dead time in football. Baseball is boring. Nothing beats the challenge of a good basketball game.”

Is there a sport in which Anton and Jessie didn’t excel?

“I wasn’t very good in gymnastics because I was too big,” said Anton.

Jessie is plagued by an age-old hitters’ woe:

“I can’t hit a curveball,” he said.