Photos by Terra Gaytan

A group of young Humboldt County Native American basketball players recently made their presence felt on a national stage, as Pikship Athletics continues to build momentum.

The AAU team based out of Orleans made the trip to compete at the Native American Junior Nationals Basketball Tournament in Mesa, Arizona, and reached the Elite Eight in the 64-team Platinum Bracket.

After going 3-3 in pool play against some of the best young Native American players in the nation, the Pikship boys lost to the eventual bracket champs, Lapwai out of Idaho, to end their tournament.

But overall, it was a good showing by the team, which is made up of mostly high school freshmen and sophomores from Hoopa High, and a great experience for the players.

“I thought we played pretty well,” head coach Tyler Mitchell said. “I thought the boys represented well.”

A few key injuries didn’t help matters for Pikship, which played later games without three players, including two starters.

The trip to Mesa was part of a busy summer for the Pikship players, who have played 25 games this spring and summer to help prepare them for next year’s high school season.

“The boys are learning how to play together and building some good team bonding,” Mitchell said.

The team includes William Simms, Lorenzo Coulombe, Delmer Ferris, Makaych McConnell, Torin Billings, David Sylvia-Cisneros, Darrell McCovey, Evan Nicholson, Jayden Reed and Axel Tripp, as well as eighth-grader Wayne King.

Wayne’s twin, Bella King, also made the trip and the two eighth-graders also played on other teams at the tournament, taking the court for nine games over three days.

Local eighth-grader Kaedyn Jensen also traveled with Pikship and competed on a team from Reno, while local fourth-grader Kepel Simms made the trip and competed on a team from Mississippi.

Photos by Terra Gaytan

Most of the players have been playing together as part of Pikship Athletics for the past three years.

Founded by Bubba King, Pikship Athletics offers opportunities for kids in third to 12th grade in the area to compete in several different sports, including basketball, girls volleyball and soccer, with plans to expand and include softball next year.

“We’re always striving to get bigger and better as an AAU program,” Bubba King said. 

Many of the players played under Mitchell on the Hoopa freshman team this past winter, and all of them, according to the coaches, are succeeding in the classroom as well as on the court, with every player achieving at least a 2.5 GPA.

“It was a great experience for them,” Mitchell said. “This was our second trip there. It gives our youth a positive outlook and it’s something for them to do in the summer.”

Mitchell can see the improvement in the players.

“I’m looking forward to working with this group moving forward,” the coach said. “They’re learning the concept of basketball and playing with their minds and having fun.”

The hard work the coaches and players are putting in is clearly paying dividends.

“It’s a lot of hard work these kids put in — traveling, training, fund raising,” Bubba King said. “But it’s all worth it.”

Bubba King also praised the efforts of his coaches, a group that also includes Willie Simms Sr. 

“We’ve got a good group of coaches that work well together,” he said, before adding “We’d like to thank all the people and businesses that helped us.”

A busy summer for Pikship continues this weekend, with their eighth-grade team traveling for a tournament in Rocklin.