LJ b BB: Three starters, three paths

Sophomore Max Raulston waits
for the ball from the referee
before a free throw in the Vikings'
game July 6.
(Photos by Ed Piper)
 

By Ed Piper

Christian Gamboa. Max Raulston. Diego Solis. Three student athletes, three different approaches.

Gamboa, 17, an older junior, has never played anything but basketball. "That's it, even when I was younger," he said when asked about it last season.

His mom's a nut for the game, his brother is a big-brother mentor who coaches him on upping his game. The whole family is in on his hoops focus.

Raulston, a class behind his teammate Christian at La Jolla High, has taken a different route. The high-leaper, whose father was a standout Viking football player in his day, starred at receiver for the LJHS freshman football team last fall, bagging pass after pass from fellow prodigy Jackson Stratton.

"Number 13 was pretty good," a Central Union High dad said, wide-eyed, after the Viking frosh terrorized his son's team the night before. By "pretty good", he meant "really good". The man brought up Raulston without being prompted.

Junior Christian Gamboa drives to the basket
in the second half against Santa Fe Christian.
 

But Max told me a couple of months ago, when he was absent from Spring football workouts for Coach Tyler Roach's program--"We've still got him listed on the roster. We're hoping he changes his mind"--that yes, it was true he was going to whittle his sports training down to basketball. After starting on the varsity as a freshman, he wanted to see how far he could go.

Solis, the younger of a brother combo that packed a punch for Roach's footballers, has decided on a different approach. "I'm going to be at quarterback in the fall," he told me with a determined look during his recovery from a triple break in his right collarbone sustained in the Christian High game in October 2018. "I probably won't play defense."

But there he was, after a slow start at quarterback in 7-on-7 play this summer, telling Roach he wanted in as a defensive back in last week's tournament at Southwestern College.

Diego is going to maintain both sports, playing the weekend of June 28-29 both in passing league and at the UCSD Team Basketball Camp later in the day.

For Coach Paul Baranowski's basketball team, Solis brings a general sports savvy, court sense, an ability off the dribble, as well as outside accuracy (the last which has been uncharacteristically off the last two weekends).

Junior Diego Solis dribbles out front as the
Viking offense sets up against the Eagles
early in the first half at Canyon Crest.

"Why give up football?" asked Will Cunningham, Cathedral Catholic head basketball coach, when told Raulston's story on the sidelines of the La Jolla-Mission Vista game Fri., July 5. "He could play both." The long-time coach at the private school was waiting for his team to play the next game.

My reply was, in playing year-round in one sport you can receive more coaching and improve your skills at a faster pace with more concentrated work.

Three Vikings, a treble of ways to go: never played a sport other than basketball (Gamboa), gave up a sport to focus on hoops (Raulston), still playing two sports (Solis).

The three returning starters will form the core of this winter's squad, Gamboa at point guard, Solis a combo guard, Raulston up front.