Charles Escalante is the basketball coach at Red Hook’s PAVE Charter School, which educates kids through the 8th grade. He is in his second year at PAVE Academy Charter School.
“I used to coach, with the principal here, in prep school in New England,” Escalante said. “We were in the New England Preparatory School Athletic Council (NEPSAC) and a lot of kids who played in that league went onto play in the ACC and get scholarships to good schools. I have tried to expose our kids to the hard work that they need to do and how much school and their grades matter and that they can’t just be athletes.”
A major change that the second-year coach, who used to work at the Hyde School, has made has been expanding the team to include all grades of middle school as opposed to just seventh and eighth grade.
“I am trying to build an actual program so kids get a little more competitive,” Escalante said. “Some kids know that their role on the team isn’t necessarily a lot of playing time, but more that you are going to practice, you are going to get better, so that by the time you are an 8th grader you have been doing this for four years instead of ‘hey I am a 7th grader, this is my first time on the team. This is the approach I have taken.”
He has emphasized holding the kids accountable during the school day with consequences for the team if individuals slip up. If a kid has to go to detention the entire team will pay it for during their next practice through extra conditioning drills. The emphasis on not getting detention as well as performing in the classroom is new to PAVE athletes.
“The habits they pick up in the school day and in class also translate as an athlete,” Escalante said. “If you are lazy in the classroom you are lazy on the court. I want to instill in them that you have to come to school in order to play.”
The kids have not previously been exposed to this level of sports and the program Escalante is trying to build. The coach lets them know that it will not be any easier in high school – they now have a GPA requirement and need to have good attendance – and in high school there will be more competition with more kids trying out.
Skill development
“A lot of them love to play playground basketball where it is just get the ball and see what happens,” Escalante said. “We practice basics which is get the ball, slow down and think about what you are going to do. We are teaching them to find the point guard, slow down and run the play.”
Escalante has tried to implement more of a “program.” This entails having the kids play basketball year-round and having the kids know that progress reports are expected.
“Sports taught me a lot,” Escalante said. “It is supposed to be fun but it’s also to learn life skills. If you can set a foundation for that it would be easy for someone to come in and take over if I am not around.”
An aspect of getting the kids to play year-round entails setting some of them up with AAU teams.
“Middle School principal Geoff Fenelus helped me set up one of the kids to get on the AAU team New Heights.” Escalante said. “He is an alum from that program.”
CSAA
Last year Escalante got the kids more exposure by having them participate in a Harlem league.
The coach thought this was a beneficial experience for the kids because many of them had not been to Harlem or left the borough before this 10-game stint in upper Manhattan.
There was also an emphasis on school work in that league as progress reports were required and if kids on the Pave team had two or more Fs they couldn’t participate.
“They pushed for sportsmanship, the competition was good, they did a lot of things I really liked and the kids gained valuable experience,” Escalante said. “They saw I wasn’t the only one asking for their grades. They had a mid-season All-Star Game and 3-point contest, so it was a good way to expose the kids.”
This year, since Escalante knew he would be serving as Athletic Director and had more of a say in what would happen from the beginning, he was able to participate locally, with the Miccio Community Center to participate in their tournament as well as be in the Charter School Athletic Association, which starts in January.
Pave went 1-2 in their first three games in the Miccio tournament but the coach thinks they could have easily been 3-0 if things went differently.
One of the schools that they play against in the CSAA is BASIS and the rest are spread out all around Brooklyn.
Pave is the only school in the Miccio tournament. The other teams, in which there are about seven, are composed of kids involved in Miccio programs.
High school
Escalante believes that three of the four 8th graders on the team this year will play basketball in high school if the trend of working hard continues.
The director of high school placement, Ms. Myers, works diligently with every 8th grader on placing them in the best high school that meets their academic needs whether it be private, catholic or public.
“I had the pleasure of working with her last year and got to know her,” Escalante said. “From the moment they become 8th graders in July until the moment they graduate, Ms. Myers is working with them to find the best possible fit. She contacts every family, she is in touch with everyone, she sets up testing and does whatever she needs to do.”
About 10 of the 15 players live in Red Hook. The other five had their parents grow up in Red Hook and live elsewhere now but send their kids to Pave because they are still involved in the community.
