John Fitchett earned the nickname “Fresh” for his stern efforts as a Lafayette High freshman to attend every voluntary boys basketball open gym or practice.
During those voluntary practices, Fitchett would sometimes show up a senior with a nice bucket or defensive stop, which yielded “Freshman!” chants from assistant coaches looking on.
The name stuck for years, but these days few involved with the program have ever heard it used. First-year Lafayette High coach Patrick Brown, for instance, says he’s never heard the nickname used since taking the position early last summer.
That’s because Fitchett, now a senior on the Rams’ varsity team, is no longer that quiet freshman trying to make a name for himself.
Far from it, actually.
Fitchett was one of Lafayette’s leading scorers last season but served as more of a supporting role player to 2012 graduates Colton St. Cyr, who inked a Divison I scholarship with Coastal Carolina this fall while playing a semester at St. Ignatius Prep in South Carolina, and Dewayne Johnson. This year, Fitchett is the Rams’ clear leader, plus he’s emerged as one of the top players in the Bay Rivers District.
Still a fairly quiet guy both on and off the court, Fitchett and his coach both admit that, vocally, his leadership qualities can improve. But as his coach noted, Fitchett does such a stellar job leading by example that it’s hard to ask for much more.
“He’s a pretty quiet kid, and we sat down and talked at the beginning of the season about how he was going to go about being the leader of this team,” Brown said during his team’s practice on Monday. “We’d like for him to be a little louder at times and be a voice out there, but with the way he carries himself both on and off the floor, and how hard he works, he sets a perfect example for the rest of the team.
“And the one thing that shouldn’t go overlooked is that he’s a good student,” Brown added of Fitchett, who sports a 3.4 grade point average. “It’s nice to have a senior that excels in the classroom, doesn’t ever get into trouble and you can just count on to represent the program in a positive way.”
On a team far less talented than last year’s group, which was in contention for a district title until the last couple weeks of the regular season, Fitchett has carried a bulk of his team’s scoring load night-in and night-out in the competitive Bay Rivers District despite being the sole focus of most every opposing team’s defense.
His near 20 point-per-game scoring average is a must for a team that lacks scoring depth, but it’s not just the volume as much as when or how his points come.
For example, in last week’s come-from-behind 61-57 victory over Poquoson, Fitchett scored 14 of his game-high 24 points in the final period as the Rams (4-7, 3-6 BRD) erased an eight-point fourth-quarter deficit to net a much-needed victory to open the new year.
Fitchett’s season averages of 19 points and 8 rebounds per game this season are a direct result of the relentless effort and practice time put in when no one is watching.
With few hobbies outside of basketball, Fitchett spends nearly all of his spare time in the gym honing his game.
“I’m the one who’s always in the gym – either weight lifting or shooting, and I do ball-handling drills at home – everyday,” Fitchett said. “I hang out with friends on the weekends a lot, but other than that it’s pretty much just basketball because I want to maximize my potential and enjoy doing it.”
A strict training regimen this past summer included self-enforced “shooting days,” in which Fitchett estimated shooting “hundreds” of shots while alternating days when he had to make either 100 mid-range or 3-point buckets before leaving.
“He’s always trying to get in extra shots,” Brown said. “During tryouts back in November, after the varsity kids had already left, I stuck around with the JV kids, and about an hour into their tryouts I heard a ball bouncing on the other side, and sure enough, it was John shooting with dad.
“I joke with him sometimes and ask, ‘is everything else OK?’ because he’s always doing something basketball-related. He just loves the game.”
A versatile player who can run the two-guard position but specializes as a small forward on the wing, Fitchett also attended a session of the prestigious ‘Point Guard College’ basketball camp held at Eastern Mennonite College in Harrisonburg over the summer to improve his ball handling.
“I’m not a point guard obviously, but ball handling is an area of my game I’ve really been trying to work on,” Fitchett said. “It was actually my dad’s idea…He’s the one who put a basketball in my hand when I was younger, and he deserves a lot of the credit for supporting me doing anything he can to help me get better.”
More recently, Fitchett says he’s also discovered a love of the weight room because his size will be vital in determining if and/or where he could play at the next level.
“I’ve learned to love weight lifting,” says Fitchett, who at 6-foot, 4-inches has bulked up close to 185 pounds, nearly 20 pounds heavier than his 165-pound frame as a junior last season. “A good college player is usually close to 200 pounds on the perimeter, and that’s really my motivation because it’s something I can control.”
So far, Fitchett has garnered interest from a number of Division III schools and a few DII’s, including Christopher Newport University, Catholic University, Bridgewater College and Chowan University, but like his former teammate St. Cyr, hopes to use the AAU circuit during the summer to broaden his recruiting spectrum.
In the meantime, though, Fitchett says his focus is helping Lafayette end the second-half of the season on a high note and make a strong push for a regional tournament bid.
“We’re coming along as a team I think,” said Fitchett, whose Rams travel to New Kent on Wednesday before a showdown on Friday against town rival Bruton. “It’s frustrating at times not being in the position we were last season competing for a district title, we just have to concentrate on getting better as a team.
“Me jacking up a bunch of shots isn’t going to help us. I just have to play my game.”
