Boykins Is Digging Volleyball Experience

The obsession with playing a single sport year-round is depriving hundreds of high school athletes the opportunity to discover they have a talent for another sport.

Javael Boykins of Woodland Hills Taft had played basketball all his life until he decided to try volleyball last month.

His debut came after he got home at 2 a.m. from a state basketball playoff game in Fresno, went to school at 6:30 a.m. and attended class. He was then put on the court for his first volleyball match without participating in a single official practice.

He has become such a promising volleyball player in a month’s time that it could be the sport that earns him a college scholarship.

“I really don’t know what to say,” the

6-foot-4 junior said. “I’m just out there playing and having a good time.”

Said Coach Arman Mercado: “I think he has the talent to play at the next level. His first love is basketball, and he’s in a little bit of a dilemma.”

Three weeks after his first match, Boykins contributed 19 kills in Taft’s five-game victory over City Section title favorite Granada Hills. Boykins’ block provided the winning point in a 16-14, fifth-game victory that launched a wild celebration.

“I was making mistakes,” Boykins said. “I’d put my head down, but the coach came and talked to me, ‘You’re new to the game, let it go.’ That’s what I did.”

A week earlier, he was a major contributor as Taft defeated four-time defending City champion Chatsworth in a five-game match.

“Coach [Mercado] had been 0-11 against Chatsworth, and we beat them,” Boykins said. “Everybody congratulated me, ‘Javael, you’re improving.’ It was the day I began to believe I could be good at this sport.”

Boykins’ jumping skills made him an instant contributor. He’s still learning volleyball rules, strategies and fundamentals such as passing, digging and serving. But his enthusiasm and talent stamp him as a player to watch.

Boykins was a reserve on Taft’s City runner-up basketball team. Mercado asked him to try volleyball, along with 6-8 junior Garrett Green. The two had been hanging out watching the girls’ volleyball team.

“I only tell them one time [what to do], and they do it,” Mercado said. “It’s amazing.”

Added Boykins: “I learn something new every day. I still play volleyball in my basketball shirt and basketball shoes.”

Boykins wants to earn a starting spot in basketball, but he has become serious about his volleyball ambitions.

“There may be a volleyball career in my future,” he said.

In a short time, he has come to enjoy the atmosphere associated with volleyball.

“In basketball, you can’t get excited after every play,” he said. “In volleyball, you can. I have to say getting a kill is better than dunking. A lot of people can dunk. More adrenaline goes through your body when you get a kill or stuff somebody.”

After the Granada Hills victory, Boykins was so excited he tore off his jersey like a professional soccer player does after scoring a goal.

“He doesn’t know any better,” Mercado said. “He’s still acting on emotions.”

The question that Boykins will soon have to answer is whether he’s a basketball player playing volleyball or a volleyball player playing basketball.

“I can’t really say,” he said. “I’m just an athlete playing sports. I’m not just a volleyball player. I’m not just a basketball player.”

Thankfully, before it was too late, he had the inner fortitude to not focus solely on his basketball dreams. He tried another sport and found he was good at it.

“Basketball is year-round,” he said. “I didn’t think I had time for [volleyball]. But if somebody wants to do something, you’ll make time for it. That’s what I’m doing.”

High school is about experimenting and finding something at which to excel. There’s nothing wrong in focusing on one sport if that’s what someone enjoys, but there shouldn’t be a taboo about trying two or even three sports.

Boykins is the perfect example of a 16-year-old whose path in life might have been changed because he decided to make high school what it’s supposed to be, a testing ground for the future.

Eric Sondheimer can be reached at eric.sondheimer@latimes.com.