Josue Navarro, who now plays on the Port Isabel High School boys varsity basketball team, after spending some of the season on the JV team. Photo by Larry Gage.
By LARRY GAGE
Special to the PRESS
The team that a particular player starts the season with is not necessarily the one he’ll be playing with once the district season starts. One such Port Isabel High player is sophomore Josue Navarro.
“I was playing JV and Coach Hazelton came up to me and asked me if I’d like to play on Varsity,” Navarro said recently. “He moved me up and here I am.”
“We were tinkering with the idea, wondering when was the right time,” head P.I. boys basketball coach Mike Hazelton told the PRESS at a recent practice. “He’s another big man and he can run the floor. He’s just getting better and better and he’s got a great attitude.”
Navarro was, until recently, a two-sport athlete, with soccer being his other game.
“I started (playing hoops) in middle school and I switched from hoops to soccer and back. Now I just want to focus on basketball.”
Navarro takes every opportunity to play the game and work on the various skills required to be a good player.
This past summer, “I played with a team in Brownsville, the Outlaws. I think it helped with my confidence.”
Navarro is another of those Tarpon athletes who is reluctant to load up his schedule with too many activities other than his primary sport.
“I have enough to do – I have a well-balanced schedule. I’ve just got to keep my grades up. I’m an A and B student.”
Among other courses Navarro is taking, this fall semester, Chemistry, English II, and Geometry.
College is definitely on his mind but Navarro said he’s not giving it much thought at this time.
“Not right now – I’m just focusing on my school work. I would be the first in my family to go to college.”
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