14-year-old competes with the big boys

Basketball has become a family tradition for the Frye family at Houma Christian School.

For father Freddie, eighth-year head coach, and 14-year-old son Nate, eighth grader and varsity team starting point guard, their on-the-court relationship has been a rewarding and tricky experience.

In his first season playing for his dad, Nate is the Warriors’ leader in points (22 per game) and assists (5).

Despite his son’s obvious higher skill level, Freddie Frye is mindful to be consistent in how he treats Nate as compared to his teammates.

“If Nate turns the ball over, he gets treated like the other kids,” Freddie Frye insisted. “He’s not going to start just because he’s the coach’s son. I want all the kids to know they have work hard, step on the floor and perform. I also have to know that his mom (Nadine Frye) is sitting up in the stands and we have to go home at night, so I have to be mindful that’s her baby too.”

“It’s been fun and rough at times. Sometimes, I feel the pressure during practices and before games,” Nate said of being the coach’s son. “When I get on the court it just goes away. I just have to learn to relax and get used to it because I have four more years.”

Nate came off the bench during the 2007-08 season. Over the summer, he lifts weights daily to be physical enough to compete against the juniors and seniors he battles every game.

“I can’t be weak if I’m going to play against guys bigger, tougher and stronger than me,” he said. “That’s the only way I can score points.”

The points may come easy for Nate, like they did in a career high 37 against Grand Isle on Dec. 19. However, it is his passing ability that Freddie Frye asserts makes his eighth-grade point guard a true standout player.

“I tell my guys all the time, Nate doesn’t have to be looking at you to pass it. You just have to get you rhands ready,” the coach said. “He could easily get 10 to 12 assists per game. The other kids are not used to a player throwing them the ball without looking and at the speed and velocity that he’s throwing it. That’s not an overstatement.”

“I model my game on Chris Paul and Chauncey Billups because they’re good floor leaders, and they know how to control a ball game,” Nate said.

Even with his scoring prowess, Nate prefers playing defense. He points out that it is also the part of his game he needs to improve on most. He does not always stick to his father’s fundamentals.

“I like to reach a lot, and that is something he teaches me not to do,” Nate said. “I get away with it sometimes, but I know I have to stay down on defense and keep my hands up.”

Defense has been the Warriors’ (8-10, 0-1 in District 8-B) Achilles heel all season.

In the week prior to the district opener with Centerville last Tuesday, Coach Frye stressed the importance of tough interior and baseline defense to his club. Still, the Bulldogs managed to score 93 points.

“That’s been our problem all year,” Freddie Frye said. “We’re letting teams get to the basket any time they want.”

Nate has enjoyed playing basketball since he was four years old. He would watch from the sidelines while his dad coached for three years (two as assistant, one as head coach) at Ellender.

“I’d be like, ‘I can take these dudes,’ and he’d be like, ‘No Nate, you’re too small,'” Nate recalled. “I just had to wait my turn.”

During the 1996-97 season, Freddie Frye led the Patriots to a 35-3 record and the 4A state championship game. The Patriots lost to defending champs Cohen on a controversial foul call as time expired.

“The two referees under the basket said there was no foul … we’re going to overtime,” Freddie remembered. “The referee at half court overrode those two guys and said we had a two-shot foul. The guy (Cohen’s Teddy Clark) hits a free throw. Game over. After that, I basically lost a job.”

In 2001, he took a teaching and head coach position at Houma Christian. Freddie Frye led the Warriors to the playoffs every year the school played in the Louisiana Christian School Athletic Association.

Since the school joined the Louisiana High Schools Athletic Association in 2005, the Warriors have not made the playoffs. But Coach Frye hopes to build up the program, modeled on the success of Class C Reserve Christian, which has won four consecutive state titles.

“What makes them get to the state finals every year is somehow kids choose to go to Reserve Christian over East St. John (a public high school),” Freddie Frye said. “These are 4A, 5A players that chose to go to Reserve Christian. We’re in the same situation. The biggest problem is that athletes feel if they come here, they’re not going to be seen. That’s not true.”

The coach believes his son can be the foundation of a Houma Christian renaissance.

Nate has attended his father’s basketball fundamentals camp since he was five. He has played AAU (Amateur Athletic Union) summer basketball since he was 11. Currently he plays for the Bayou Flames from Baton Rouge.

“As an eighth grader, it may be a lot of pressure to put a high school team on your shoulders, but it’s not like we haven’t prepared you for it,” Freddie Frye said.

The family has never emphasized how well Nate plays on the basketball court. Both parents are ministers at the Living Word Church, and are more concerned about his spiritual life than his academic and athletic life.

“Academics and athletics can only take you so far. You have to be a person of character,” Freddie Frye said. “Look at Tim Tebow: incredible kid. I would love for Nate to talk to Tim Tebow about life. Only what you do for Christ is eternal. When you stand before God, he’s not interested in how many points he averaged per game.”

They would like to see Nate become a spiritual leader and mentor younger students at Houma Christian.

In the meantime, he enjoys math and reading at school, and video games and fishing in Pointe-Aux-Chenes away from the basketball court.

On a recent trip with a fellow parishioner, father and son caught a 50-pound speckled trout, and Freddie Frye caught a large redfish. On a trip to Boudreaux Canal, Nate reeled in a 35- to 40-pound bull red.

Although he is four years away from thinking about universities, Atlanta-area college basketball scouts have Nate Frye on their radar. However, he may have plans to go elsewhere.

“I would love to play for Texas, Georgetown or North Carolina,” he said.

The biggest concern for the Fryes is to keep their family and basketball relationships strong yet separate.

“What goes on in the house never carries over onto the court. What happens on the court always carries over into the house,” Freddie Frye said. “One of my biggest fears in coaching my son was coaching him from a coach’s standpoint and not a father’s. Dads are always tough on their sons. I have to be careful that I don’t just crash down on top of him just because he’s my son.”

Houma Christian point guard Nate Frye, 14, works on his defensive stance against a superior opponent, his father and Warriors coach Freddie Frye. * Photo by KEYON K. JEFF