Terry Mann Learns to Keep Game of Basketball in Perspective : Sunny Hills: Forward employs organization and discipline to excel on court, but more importantly, in classroom.

Sunny Hills High School forward Terry Mann has played in only five losing basketball games in the Freeway League over the past three seasons.

Mann led Sunny Hills’ junior varsity team to a league title in his freshman season and then helped the varsity team win two more league championships the past two seasons.

But even in losing, Mann has found a way to be successful. Last spring, he lost an election for the position of school president, but has written several college-level term papers on dealing with defeat.

“Losing isn’t the end of the world,” Mann said. “Don’t get me wrong. I want to win as badly as anyone. But I also realize that basketball is still a game. I have some other things to fall back on.”

Mann is an honor student at Sunny Hills, where he is the leading candidate to become class valedictorian with a 4.6 grade-point average. His courses this semester range from Contemporary Global Studies to the Theory of Knowledge.

Throughout his high school career, Mann has maintained one goal: To finish four years with a perfect record in the classroom. So far, he has received straight A’s since he was a freshman. The secret to his success?

“You have to be organized and disciplined,” he said. “You make some sacrifices, but I’m willing to do what it takes. School has always come first.”

Maybe, but Mann has also found time to excel on the basketball court. As a sophomore, he averaged six blocked shots per game--more than highly publicized center Cherokee Parks did at Marina High.

Mann averaged 10 points and 10 rebounds as a sophomore and improved to 15.9 points and 10.1 rebounds last season, when he was named the Freeway League’s most valuable player.

Mann, looking to increase his average to 25 points as a senior, spent the summer working to improve his ballhandling skills and shooting range in a series of camps and leagues.

Mann attended the Superstar Camp at UC Santa Barbara and another camp at Stanford. He also played for the Pro Stars in the Slam-n-Jam League at Dominguez High and competed for Sunny Hills’ team in the Valencia summer league.

“It was the first time that I played a lot of basketball over the summer,” he said. “I learned that attending summer camps is where you become a better player, and it’s where you get noticed by the colleges.

“I thought my game got better every day at Superstar Camp. The games were totally different than the style that I’m used to playing at Sunny Hills. It was an up-tempo, transitional style of play.”

Mann also spent countless hours working with his father, Gerald, on improving his three-point shot. Gerald Mann played college basketball at California under Pete Newell.

“If I’m going to play small forward or big guard in college, I have to improve my shooting range,” Mann said. “I’ve always had a shot, but now I can pull up and gun. Now, I’m comfortable at the three-point line.”

So far, college basketball coaches have noticed Mann’s improvement. He is being recruited by the University of San Diego, Loyola-Marymount, Cal Poly Pomona, UC Irvine, UC Davis and most of the Ivy League schools.

College track coaches are also interested. Last spring, Mann high jumped 6 feet 11 in a league dual meet and won the Southern Section’s 2-A Division high jump championship at 6-5.

“I don’t want to commit to one sport at this time,” Mann said. “I plan on competing in both in college.”

He also found time this summer to lift weights for the first time.

Mann, who is 6 feet 7, was Sunny Hills’ point guard throughout the summer until sophomore Kevin Christian transferred from Walnut. Mann said he welcomed the move back to forward.

“It was very trying playing point guard,” he said. “Kevin is the best pure point guard that I’ve played with at Sunny Hills.”