Busy Ellis Still Makes the Grade
April Fools’ Day is still two months away, so don’t think this story is a hoax even if it seems to belong in a tabloid next to the headline, “Aliens Have Landed!”
Daryl Ellis, a 15-year-old freshman at Village Christian High in Sun Valley, has never received a grade less than A since kindergarten.
This winter, he is simultaneously playing for the varsity basketball and soccer teams.
On Tuesdays and Thursdays, he plays soccer in the afternoon and basketball at night. On practice days, he’s with the soccer team from 3 to 5 p.m., then joins the basketball team at 6:30.
“Naps are real important in my life,” he said.
He warns friends to be careful about calling his Burbank house on the weekends.
“Weekends are my sleeping time,” he said. “Basically, if you call any time on Saturday morning, I’m sleeping. No, that’s not true. I have a three-hour basketball practice on Saturday mornings, so I sleep in the afternoon.”
Ellis is 6 feet 2 and 145 pounds. He’s a starting swingman in basketball and a reserve forward in soccer.
“In this day and age, everybody makes excuses that they don’t have enough time to do things,” said Brian Gibson, Village Christian’s basketball coach. “Here’s a guy carrying [honor] classes, playing two sports and not once have I ever heard him complain.”
Ellis’ basketball game is built around hustle, defense, rebounding and teamwork. He took four charging fouls in one game this season.
“I do different things on the court, and those things don’t show up in the box score,” he said. “I tend to be an unselfish player. I don’t judge myself by how many points I score.”
Ellis isn’t your normal small-schools player.
In the seventh grade, he played on an elite club basketball team that included top freshmen Scott Borchart of Chaminade and Cody Pearson of Notre Dame.
This season, he’s averaging five points and six rebounds for the Crusaders.
When his teammates were asked by Gibson to evaluate Ellis before the season, they wrote: “Mature, hard worker, willing to dive on the ground, loves to take charges, understands limitations, versatile.”
Gibson was skeptical that Ellis could play basketball and soccer at the same time, but he no longer has doubts.
“Normally, I’d steer him away from it because of the demands,” Gibson said. “But the way he’s handled it is incredible, particularly his energy. I thought for sure he’d be sick, but outside of an ankle injury he’s been incredible. He understands commitment. That’s the thing that is amazing to me. There’s a passion in him.”
Said soccer Coach Bob Rennie: “When we agreed to let him try this, I told him, ‘I don’t expect you to come to soccer practice, but you will not start ever.’ And yet, he’s been at all the soccer practices when there has been no conflict.”
Ellis isn’t the first athlete in the region to play two sports in the same season.
Kerrie Clavadetscher of Chaminade played girls’ basketball and soccer until last season, and Kristin Kiley-Boynton was a girls’ basketball/soccer standout for Grant until graduating in 1995.
For 10 years, Ellis has received perfect grades on his report cards. Last semester, he earned A’s in such demanding subjects as chemistry, geometry and honors English.
Is his mother driving him?
“I’ve never pushed him,” Sylvia Ellis said. “The last time I pushed him was in labor.”
Sylvia remembers when Daryl was 3, he’d become upset when his older brother came home with a report card.
“He [Daryl] used to cry and ask, ‘When is it my turn to bring home A’s?’ ” she said.
Gibson expects Ellis to become a “doctor or lawyer.”
“There’s no question about it,” he said.
Ellis has no intention of giving up basketball or soccer.
“I love both sports,” he said.
Now, if only he could find more time to sleep.
Eric Sondheimer’s local column appears Wednesday and Sunday. He can be reached at (818) 772-3422.
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PERFECTION
The first semester report card for freshman Daryl Ellis of Village Christian:
Geometry: A
Honors English: A
Chemistry: A
Bible: A
World History: A
Basketball: A
Spanish I: A
