Basketball: Newman learns a valuable lesson from her suspension (11-23-06)
By Tommy Keeler Jr. (Daily Staff Writer)
WINCHESTER — After every game, Jamecia Newman went home and cried.
Last year's game days hit her the hardest, but she watched her Handley teammates as much as possible. She was a sophomore, and it was going to be her year to shine — but when practice began, she wasn't even allowed on school grounds.
Newman tried to be supportive. She attended as many road games as possible until she was allowed to return to school. With every game during the Judges' run to the Region II semifinals, the pain grew.
"I would see them playing and having fun and it's like I was invisible," Newman said. "It just wasn't the same."
Last November, Newman was involved in a fight at the school, leading to a 10-day suspension. After it ended, Newman was sent to Douglas Learning Center. There, she and four or five other students sat in a trailer and worked on a computer. There were no teachers; all instruction came from the computer.
Most importantly, none of Newman's friends were there.
"It was no fun at all," she said. "I couldn't see any of my friends because I was going to a different school. I couldn't be on Handley property."
She returned to Handley on Jan. 28. It wasn't until then that she could attend home games and see her friends at school.
"We're all like sisters on the team," she said. "When I came back to school, they were very supportive and it meant a lot to me."
"We talked to her when she came back and we told her she couldn't do it again," teammate Kim Mobley said. "We needed her for basketball. We're like a family here and we're always there for each other."
* * *
Last Monday — the Judges' first day of practice — Newman couldn't help but feel nervous.
It was her first time back in a Handley uniform, playing with many new faces. But it didn't take long to fit in. By the fourth day, she was back to being the goofy jokester her teammates knew her to be.
Newman ran with the basketball in front of her teammates, just as they were about to start a drill. Coach Marvin Scott shook his head and smiled.
"That is one crazy girl," he said. "She's a nut."
Newman was happy to be back on the court again. And her teammates and coaches are glad to have her back.
"She makes us laugh," Mobley said. "She's pretty goofy. We're all like that some, but I guess you could say she's our clown."
"I don't like things to be dull or boring," Newman said. "If somebody's down, I like to cheer them up."
Scott said her ability to make people laugh is a sign of how smart she is.
"That is one intelligent individual," he said. "I could say something to her and she'll come right back with something and the team will all laugh.
"And I think to myself, 'Only Jamecia.'"
* * *
Basketball is where it all started.
Newman took up the game with her older brother, Richard Myers, a former football and track athlete at Handley.
She played other sports as well, but when she was 8 years old, she decided to focus on basketball. It became her passion.
"Playing basketball makes me feel good," she said. "Everybody has different things that make them feel good; for me, it's basketball. Playing basketball is my life."
Newman played for hours and hours each day. She would play with anybody — girls, boys or whoever wanted to play at the park on her street.
That included her neighbor, Chad Moore, a standout on the boys basketball team.
"We play together all the time," Moore said. "She's pretty strong for a girl. She's the only girl that plays with us. We treat her just like one of the guys."
When Newman was suspended, she spent countless hours at the park. It was the one place she could go to forget about everything and just work on her game.
Moore said he tried to encourage her during the suspension.
"I just told her to keep working on her game and to not worry about any of the negative stuff," he said.
Newman said she looks up to Moore and even wears No. 33 because that's the number he sports.
"I want to be like him," Newman said. "He's got a good all-around game. He shoots well. I just like his game."
And Moore can dunk. Newman said her goal as a freshman was to dunk before the end of her high school career. That hasn't changed.
"If she gets a little more height she can do it," Moore said. "She can already touch the rim."
* * *
Newman's Handley debut as a freshman in 2004-05 was an auspicious one.
She averaged 8.0 points, 11.3 rebounds and 2.0 steals. In a game against Sherando, she scored 19 points and pulled down 22 rebounds.
She made quite an impact for the Judges, who went 20-5 and advanced to the Region II quarterfinals.
The main impact came in rebounding. Her athleticism allows her to get to balls most players can't reach.
"I love to rebound," she said. "I love to jump, so I figure I should be able to get a lot of rebounds. If coach Scott asked me to jump through the net to the rim, I'd do it. Whatever he wants me to do to help make the team better, I'll do it."
Newman was set for a stellar sophomore season before her suspension. That year is often a vital one for players being recruited by colleges, but she said she isn't worried about that for now.
Scott said she has the ability to play at the highest level.
"I really believe," Scott said, "if she can keep the right frame of mind, the sky's the limit for her."
* * *
Somewhere in all the sadness — the long days at Douglas School, watching her teammates play without her — something changed.
A transformation occurred.
A realization hit Newman that has changed her forever. Now, she's through with the past. She's ready to move on and reach her full potential.
"I made a mistake, but it's in the past," Newman said. "I just want to focus on the future. I've changed my attitude. I understand it's not necessary to fight. Now my two priorities in life are school and basketball."
Newman is faring better academically and is learning to control a temper that, in the past, might have gotten the better of her.
"She came back this season with a positive attitude," Scott said. "The best part is, she did it all herself. She came to this self-realization that she needed to change; Nobody forced her to do it."
The Judges are expected to have a successful season; there's no question Newman's return will play a role in any success the team has.
"She means a lot to our team," teammate Taryn Russ said. "Now our team is complete."
Even though the Judges advanced to the Region II semifinals last year, the team felt something or someone was missing — and now she's back.
The smile on her face during practice says it all. She's having fun and the change in her attitude is easy to see.
"I've popped my head in the door during a few of their practices, and she's leading the troops," athletic director Todd Hill said. "She's doing a wonderful job. She's extremely hard on herself, but that's OK as long as she stays positive. She's been nothing but positive so far."
Newman said she has no regrets. She has come to terms with the mistake she made and she thinks she's better off after everything she went through.
"I've learned from my mistake," she said. "I am who I am now because of what happened last year.
"Everything that happened has made me a stronger person."
