Waterford freshman heads to U16 trials
Marilyn Childs played for Lancers' basketball team which reached Class M semis
James Childs, the longtime UConn Avery Point men's basketball coach, set a few ground rules when it came to his own four children and sports, not wanting them to be pressured to play at a young age.
“I've researched it,” Childs said. “I wouldn't let them play until they got in middle school.”
This year, Childs' daughter Marilyn, has gotten more experience and more exposure than ever before. A freshman at Waterford High School, Marilyn Childs played for the Lancers' junior varsity and varsity teams, with the varsity team reaching the Class M state tournament semifinals.
A 6-foot forward/center, Marilyn is competing for the Connecticut Playmakers AAU program.
And, beginning Thursday, she will be one of 141 participants at the USA Basketball Women's U16 National Team Trials, which will last for four days at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs. Marilyn, who is 14, is the only Connecticut player on the trials roster, which was released Monday.
In addition to 35 athletes who accepted invitations from the USA Basketball Women's Developmental National Team Committee, according to a story on the USA Basketball web site, the trials roster also features 107 applicant athletes.
The U.S., under head coach Carla Berube, will compete in the 2017 FIBA Americas U16 Championship from June 7-11 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, with 15-18 finalists expected to be selected on May 29. The final 12 players will travel to Argentina.
“She's one of the younger players going out. We're going out with an open mind,” James Childs said. “What I hope she gets out of this? I hope she matures. I hope she realizes the world is bigger than Connecticut. … I'm more
“What I hope she gets out of this? I hope she matures. I hope she realizes the world is bigger than Connecticut. … I'm more nervous than she is.”
JAMES CHILDS, MARILYN’S FATHER
nervous than she is.”
“I'm pretty nervous, but I'm pretty confident, too,” Marilyn Childs said Monday night. “I'm calm, I'm ready. I have nothing to lose if I go out there. I do love basketball. I'm really excited to go out there.”
Childs, who has three younger children, two boys and a girl, said he met former U.S. Olympic water polo gold medalist Betsey Armstrong during his travels in Connecticut. Armstrong now resides in Greenwich.
“She said, ‘Tell (Marilyn) to enjoy the experience. I was cut six times before I made the team,'” James Childs said of meeting Armstrong. “She said, ‘Tell her I didn't make it six times, but the experience was amazing.'”
Childs said Marilyn looks up to her older cousin, Lexus Childs-Harris, who won a girls' basketball state championship as a senior at New London High School in 2014. Childs-Harris recently completed her junior year at Post University in Waterbury, where she plays for former WNBA post player Taj McWilliams-Franklin.
It was while Marilyn was watching Childs-Harris play pickup with some of her former New London teammates one day, India Pagan, Jada Lucas and Charee Osborne among them, that Marilyn came home and told her dad, “I don't know if I'm ready to play in high school.”
Waterford coach Mark Capasso said Marilyn played for him at Clark Lane Middle School in the seventh grade, when she was still a beginner. He saw a big difference in her this year when she arrived at the high school, where she contributed to Waterford's strong post rotation.
“I think up until now, she hadn't played a lot of AAU. Now she's ready to deal with all that stuff,” Capasso said. “(James) didn't want to throw too much at her too soon. She's extremely hard-working. She has improved dramatically. She's one of those kids that will definitely get better.” v.fulkerson@theday.com