Brandon Bonaparte is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Horizon Honors for AzPreps365.com

 

Chris Henderson once assisted at Betty Fairfax in South Phoenix, an area known for its blue-collar, never-surrender attitude.

 

This is the exact mentality he wants to bring to his current school, Horizon Honors, as head boys basketball coach.

 

Henderson, who is entering his third year at Horizon Honors, believes this could be the missing ingredient the Eagles need.

 

“What I think would really balance us out is some of the South Phoenix attitude that I coached in the past. That chip on the shoulder, run until you die, if you’re down 25 all that means is that you have a bigger comeback,” he said.

 

Henderson knows his players have always been bright. In 2018, Horizon Honors earned an “A” from the Arizona Department of Education.

 

“We have a lot of really well-disciplined kids. We have a lot of really smart kids on our team, both book smart and basketball smart,” he said. “We’ve been known as a thinking team for years.”

 

With bright players, Henderson realizes if he can couple intelligence with grit and passion, his team will be dangerous.

 

“[The coaches want to] bring that mindset to kids who are already really good at basketball. I think that can establish a culture with us that you go out there and work as hard as you can for 32 straight minutes, and if you lose that game, they had to earn it from you. You don’t give away anything for free.”

 

 

To help this mental change, Henderson also relies on his assistant coaching staff.

 

JV coach Payton Garrett and his assistant Vince Landrum, who played for Henderson at Betty Fairfax, share the same viewpoint of South Phoenix basketball.

 

“There's a certain kind of hunger that you only really find in underprivileged kids. Some of these kids play this sport as a way to get out of their situation. Kids up here don’t really have that,” Garrett said. “Their parents are lawyers or doctors. It’s not anything against these kids, but there's a certain type of hunger that they don’t have up here that we are trying to instill in them.”

 

Horizon Honors is off to a rocky 1-6 start, notching its first win of the season in a blowout against Wickenburg in their last game of the Valley Christian Thanksgiving Tournament.

 

In this tournament, Horizon Honors didn’t face any teams from its region, the 3A Metro West.

 

Senior point guard/shooting guard Jake Jones believes these early season losses will only help the young Eagles establish their newfound identify in the future.

 

“I think the curve was we had to play in those games to get some experience in,” Jones said. “We are a younger team. We needed that tournament to figure things out...before we could actually execute all the things we needed to do.”

 

By the end of the Thanksgiving tournament, Jones and the rest of the team already began to see strides in the right direction.

 

“That’s why we won our last game. We had the experience from the other games in the tournament. We executed what we [learned] from then and used it to play better in the last game.”

 

As December gets into full swing, region play draws closer for the Eagles.

 

In a region full of teams with vastly different identities such as Paradise Honors and Valley Christian, Horizon Honors looks to redefine theirs.

 

“You play teams like Greg Haagsma and Valley Christian and you see the most discipline kids that you will ever find,” said Henderson. “Then you turn around and play Paradise Honors who is by far the most athletic team in the state, and they play that physical chip on their shoulder. They’re already big. They’re already fast. And on top of that, they play with a bunch of attitude that I love, personally.”

 

The attitudes may reflect the diversity of the schools in the region. However, one thing not in question, according to Henderson, is the skill and talent of 3A ball.

 

“We see a really big, diverse type of teams that we play, and a lot of really good coaches,” he said. “Even though it’s 3A ball, I don’t think people understand that 3A ball is good basketball in Arizona. Some of these teams can compete with anybody in the state. It’s good for our kids to see that.”

 

Regardless of skill, Henderson and the Eagles look to craft their newfound blue-collar identity. To complete the change, Henderson started well before the first ball was ever tipped.

 

He sat down with his players before the first practice and asked them two distinct questions.

 

“I asked [each player]: How do you want to be remembered as a player, and do you want to be remembered as a man,” Henderson said.

 

For sophomore forward Chris Bullock, the answers to these questions is on par with Henderson’s teachings.

 

“I want to be a better all-around player. A good teammate, a good passer, scorer, ball-handler, shooter,” said Bullock. “For a man, I want to be remembered as a great family person that's always reliable for their friends and other people.”

 

In the backcourt, Jones focuses on the nitty gritty aspect of the game as well as improving from last year.

 

“Showing hard work every time you get on the court. Not being soft, always giving 100 percent effort every time. Doing the little stuff like running back on defense and getting rebounds,” said Jones. “We want to go out and play our hardest overtime we get on the court. That wasn’t always such a thing last year.”

 

Before the meeting was adjourned, Henderson himself had answers to these important questions.

 

“I shared mine. How do I want to be remembered as a coach? The most passionate coach they have ever seen. [The] first one to yell at them, the first one to tell them they screwed up, and the first one to pick them up and pat them on the back and tell them they did alright,” Henderson said. “As I man, I want to be remembered as a man of God.”

 

After the meeting, the attitude shift in practice and in opening games was already apparent.

 

“The boys took that conversation very seriously. They came out with their identity. Every single kid said they want to be someone that picks up someone else, that elevates players around [them] and makes others better...It was music to my ears.”

 

For Henderson, the attitude shift isn’t a reflection of the current landscape of the South Phoenix community. It is instead simply a reflection on him and his coaching style. This hard-nosed approach has already rubbed off on some.

 

“I just kind of modeled my passion for the game from his,” said Garrett. “Me and him have the same philosophy behind basketball wasn’t so much as learning as it was feeding off his energy. There's days where I would walk in the gym, and you know, you don’t want to play basketball every single day of your life sometimes. His energy to coach the game every single day made me want to play the game every single day. I think if this varsity team can take a piece of his passion and run with it, we can go far.”

 

Henderson’s players will likely remember him the same way his teammates did.

 

“That’s how I played growing up, and that's what I love,” he said.

 

The new mindset will be put to the test. After losing six seniors, two of which were all-region players, Horizon Honors looks to lock and reload.

 

As expected, the Eagles have been deemed the underdog. But with their newfound identity, it’s exactly what they want.

 

“We lost some key players...I think people might be sleeping on us wrong. We invite that. We want to be the underdog. That’s what we love,” said Henderson.

 

Embracing the underdog role is nothing new for Horizon Honors. In his two previous seasons, Henderson led the Eagles to a combined record of 26-31.

 

The Eagles remain under the radar - for now.

 

“I think that is true because we had a lot of seniors graduate. But I think we are looking to change their opinions on it,” Jones said.

 

While changing the culture around Horizon Honors basketball won’t be easy, the Eagles look to do just that - South Phoenix style.