Gerber Gym at Campbell Hall is an intimate community space for all to see. Quaint. There is a small cavern for the student section and several rows of bleachers with about 450 seats.
It was always too small for the Chatsworth Sierra Canyon men’s basketball team to visit.
It was a full-time job to properly sort out the mess of Bronnie James’ show. Media credentials had to be vetted, security needed to walk through venues, and celebrity ticket requests had to be processed. Hosting a game featuring LeBron James’ son was a big deal, but Campbell Hall was simply too small.
Campbell Hall therefore played away to Sierra Canyon for the third year in a row. But now, Studio City’s prep school is also getting a lot of attention. A gripping 16-year basketball mystery about Bryce James, Bronnie’s brother, from the Sierra Canyon. Attention will soon shift to Campbell Hall, and a stream of qualifications and requests will spill from that tiny gym onto the national stage.
“You can’t prepare for that… there’s nothing you can do,” said Chris Madden, Sierra Canyon assistant coach. [middle] Its. “
When LeBron James moved to Los Angeles in 2018 and sent scouts to a Sierra Canyon game to assess his sons’ landing spot, the upstart prep sports powerhouse, fresh off the state title, was perfect for the pressure. proved to be manageable.Bryce arrived at Campbell Hall with the other sons of NBA players and hired a former UCLA assistant. With David Grace as coach, the school is building itself to be the next forerunner of trendy high school hoops.
But Campbell Hall, a K-12 school that has always been based on close-knit communities, now finds itself caught between its ideological underpinnings and a major overhaul of athletics.
Soon, a circus on the other side of the valley where Campbell Hall once only visited may set up a tent on campus.
Campbell Hall is known more for its performing arts than its athletics. The basketball team, best known for producing the Holliday brothers (Milwaukee Bucks All-Star Jules, NBA legend Justin, and former UCLA standout Aaron), has had limited success over the past decade. It was targeted.
The talent was growing locally, and the campus was a mix of elementary and high school students. They rarely played outside the state, and the school won three Southern Section team titles (in women’s tennis), according to Thomas Brandt, who coached Campbell Hall from 2012 to 2018. two, one in women’s basketball).
“Since I was there, I feel 1687265417 It’s a drastic change…they start wondering if they can keep it up. said Blunt.
Athletic director Chris King told The Times that Campbell Hall board member and principal Julian Bull pushed the school’s athletic profile. Among the efforts is a 55,000-square-foot facility dubbed “Viking Center,” which includes a new basketball gym and the James family among the donors of the $80 million fundraiser. ing.
But King said he doesn’t intend the basketball program to become a transfer hub or a force on par with Sierra Canyon or neighboring Harvard-Westlake.
“Even if I sat here and said I want to conquer the basketball world and win the Open Division every year or bring it on.” [transfer] We’re just not prepared to do this with our children,” King said.
But nearly all recent developments contradict this statement. Here comes Bryce James and his 1.7 million Instagram followers. Grace, who told The Times she wants to compete at the national level and enter the open division, will also be there. Former NBA star Richard Hamilton’s son, Richard Hamilton II, is also visiting Japan, and Chris Paul’s eighth grade son may also transfer from Sierra Canyon.
Dr. King knows a lot about optics, but he vehemently denies the perception that he or the James family are orchestrating the center of school ideology. He said the gymnasium wouldn’t even be complete until Bryce’s career at Campbell Hall was over.
Of the team’s growth, King said, “How can we make that happen and keep the core and community moving in the same direction?”
rhetorical question. And for Campbell Hall, this is very important.
Bryce James, the central figure in Campbell Hall’s new reality, has a future as uncertain as his new basketball program.
Over the past few years, following the highlights of his development on the Nike Elite Youth Basketball League circuit, social media has been increasingly beset with the idea that Bryce is a better prospect than Bronnie. The young James has an explosive scoring and limp athleticism, and a frightening growth spurt, finishing 6-6 in the most recent event.
As a sophomore at Sierra Canyon College, Bryce struggled to earn minutes due to his defensive efforts, averaging just 3.8 points per game, according to a person close to the situation where he wasn’t allowed to speak publicly. It would have been difficult to find a stable role. as a junior.
Dantey, Jones’ father, a former NBA player and current Clippers assistant, said Bryce’s connection to Campbell Hall senior and EYBL teammate Tanner Jones was the catalyst for the move. It was an opportunity for more playing time, according to former Cleveland Cavaliers teammate Jones, so LeBron reached out to get his opinion on the school.
“Sierra might have been a better fit for my brother, so he was put in with it and went to school with him,” Jones said. “But he wanted a change.”
Sierra Canyon’s Bryce James attempted to shoot past Cleveland’s Jacob Mattis during a game at Reseda last November.
(Meg Olyphant/Getty Images)
King said the James family probably won’t move, meaning Bryce will likely have to rest until mid-winter under CIF transfer rules. Still, the move has generated national interest, with major tournaments such as the Spalding Hoo Hall Classic and the Scholastic Play-by-Play Classics contacting Campbell Hall about participating this winter, organizers said. admitted to The Times.
Campbell Hall’s team is made to take advantage of the buzz, even if Jim isn’t. Grace grinned that the Vikings “want to be fun” and pace behind right-out shooter Aaron Powell and athletic Jones.
King wanted to keep the homely feel. However, considering security, ticket requests and media relations, the school has decided to hold home games in neutral venues, preferably with a capacity of 1,500 or more, said the athletic director.
Gerber Jim will be gone soon. Because the Viking Revolution is here.
“As an experience, we’ve all gotten better,” King concluded.
