PHH Prep team ramps up workouts
It’s June, a long way from the start of the 2020-21 basketball season. But nobody would know that at The PHHacility in south Phoenix, home of the PHH Prep Fire.
The boys prep players are up early for strength and conditioning. A little later, they’re on one of their three floors, going through an intense more than two-hour workout. In the evening, they’re back for shooting and skills training.
Coaches Kirk Fauske and James Capriotti work them like it’s December, and a national Grind Session is approaching, making sure every detail is covered and nobody blows a defensive assignment.
“We’re just having them play, kind of bringing that dog out, making sure they play hard, go hard,” Fauske said.
On some days, program strength and conditioning coach Chuck Howard, father of Marquette’s all-time scoring leader Markus Howard, takes them to Tempe Town Lake and has them run agility drills on the sand.
This is the start of the second year of the the program and 10 new players who
recently came over from Arizona Interscholastic Association high schools are getting used to the intense workouts.
“It’s a lot more difficult,” said 2022 point guard Dominic Capriotti, who helped lead Mesa Skyline to its bestever season, a run to the 6A semifinals, last season. “It’s really making me a lot better. These last two weeks I’ve done a lot of running. It’s really getting me in shape and getting me ready for the next level.”
Capriotti joined his dad, who was the head coach at Skyline, to be part of a program that is different than prep teams in the Valley. This prep team takes only Arizona players, while others, like Hillcrest Prep, AZ Compass Prep and Dream City Christian, recruit top players from all over the country.
The Fire will play 48 games that includes a 16-game Canyon Athletic Association Open Division schedule, and trips to Canada, Kentucky, Florida, Tennessee, Indiana, Nevada, Minnesota, Massachusetts, California and Kansas.
It’s been a while since organized sports has been played. When Gov. Doug Ducey opened up activities for youth sports two weeks ago, some club programs went right back at it full throttle, while others hesitated.
School districts across Arizona are following CDC guidelines in different ways, limiting workouts and enforcing social distancing.
PHH Prep isn’t implementing plays, but it’s been full-bore basketball work.
“Kids are hungry,” James Capriotti said. “They want to be in the gym. They want to work.”
While working hard, the players have gotten to know each other. Most of them had heard about each other and might have played against each other or on the same club teams in the past.
Now they’re teammates, all in search of college basketball scholarships.
Big men Matur Dhal and Carter Van Hammond are the veterans, having played for PHH Prep in Year 1.
“Knowing what we have gone through ahead of time allows me to lead these guys more effectively, because I know what they’re going to have to go through,” said Van Hammond, who goes to Gilbert Perry for his academics.
Van Hammond played on Perry’s varsity two seasons ago. He said it was weird last season when he was attending classes at Perry and then going to The PHHacility for PHH Prep basketball.
“At a certain point, you realize your friends are your friends, not because of basketball,” he said.
John Ortega, director of PHH Prep, brought Fauske over from Phoenix Mountain Pointe last year to lead the team. This year, he was able to bring over Capriotti from Skyline, which was a struggling program before resurrecting it.
PHH Prep also attracted 2022 6foot-2 guard Andrew King, after he had a big impact, helping Phoenix Desert Vista win the AIA 6A state championship in March.
“It felt good to get a championship,” said King, who averaged 11.6 points for the Thunder. “But I was thinking about my college and where I need to be to get ready. I felt like this is where I need to be at.”
With the pandemic cancelling spring AAU showcases and the NCAA recruiting dead period extending to the end of July, King feels the intense training now will be beneficial.
“I wish I played in some of those things, but I’ve been training hard here,” King said.
J.T. Elder, a 6-6 swingman who played at Vail Cienega, has joined PHH Prep. He said being in the gym is a refuge that he missed in the spring during the stay-at-home order from the government.
Dominic Capriotti is trying to keep up with the constant running, drill work, scrimmaging.
“It’s only going to make him better,” James Capriotti said. “With the facility, with Chuck, the time he is in there to train and shoot, he’s definitely become a better player.”