January 24, 2022
Junior Jake Mallek has been paving the way in his highschool basketball career with his determination and kindness on and off the court. Playing for thirteen years so far, he is experienced in improving himself and others on his team. Mallek is a real team player, always making sure to help out the team before himself.
“I’ve been playing basketball since I was three, so 13 years now,” Mallek said. “My favorite part about being on a team is just the people and being able to help each other and make each other better.”
Mallek’s road to basketball was started by his parents, and the sport was not even his first choice. His motivation is not the only thing that keeps him going; Mallek thrives off of seeing basketball as a sport flourish, attributing basketball celebrities to some of his drive for success.
“I was trying different sports when I was younger,” Mallek said. “I tried soccer, [but it] didn’t really stick. Then, my parents put me in basketball and it really stuck. I saw people like Derrick Rose, and that really inspired me to keep going in basketball.”
However, he is not without his fair share of struggles. Mallek tore his left ACL and both of his menisci in a basketball game against North Chicago, causing him to sit out for the rest of last year’s season. This began a period of struggle for Mallek. He was not able to get back on the court until nine months after his initial injury. However his coach, Sean Connor, saw his potential even with his devastating injury.
“Jake has been phenomenal because he, despite his injury, was around everything all summer,” Connor said. “He actually acted as a student coach. When I got hired, I wasn’t hired in time to actually coach us during our first summer league games. Jake kind of took the reins of coaching the team for those first few days. After that, he was around as much as he possibly could [be].”
This injury was still a hit to his game. It was not only an injury to his physical wellbeing; this torn ACL also hurt him mentally. However, getting over the mental portion of his injury was the most difficult part for Mallek.
“Getting over the fact that I was injured at first, it struck me really hard,” Mallek said. “It’s something you hear and you never want to go through. But when you go through it, it’s not that bad, and it’s mainly finding the determination and motivation to keep going that’s the hardest part.”
From there, it only got better for Mallek. His teammates began to notice his skill and authority. They even began to notice his charisma, all having good things to say about his leadership and personality. Multiple teammates have praised him on his ability to lead his team.
“He shows great leadership,” junior Luis Zamudio said. “He gets everyone going, you know, even though he is injured right now. He still has a team. He has a team’s confidence going up and cheering everyone on.”
Besides sportsmanship, Mallek also serves as a positive role model for his friends and underclassmen.
“He’s a true guy, doesn’t say anything bad about you,” junior Kyle Glassman said. “To your face or behind your back, he’s just a good friend. He’s a hard worker, he likes to get work done and he’s a good teammate. He likes to cheer you on.”
Coach Connor believes in the leadership Jake Mallek exhibits, commenting on not only his attitude, but also how he acts on the court to reinforce this point.
“Jake’s got a lot of potential because he’s very skilled,” Connor said. “He’s smart, physically gifted and can play multiple positions. He’s our returning leading scorer from the team from last year, so I think the guys are going to kind of look to him to provide that at least. But Jake does a lot more than that. Just because of his leadership abilities and his competitiveness, it is just the type of player he is.”
At the beginning of the season, when asked about how everyone thinks this season is going to go, they all had mainly positive things to say. Coach Sean Connor showed feelings of hope towards this season and that it would be a learning experience for the group as a whole.
“I think there’ll be some roller coasters,” Connor said. “They’re still really young. They don’t have a lot of experience. So one of their focuses [is] just taking care of their bodies and taking on the physical demands of playing four months of basketball. I think that’s going to be a challenge, and it’s going to be a growing experience.”
Despite the talent on the team, there is still concern expressed by Connor about their growth. With so many new people to a regular basketball and school schedule, Connor has expressed worry about the future schedule and how the players might take a longer season than they’re used to. Furthermore, disruptions due to COVID-19 may lead to some more challenges the team will need to adjust to.
“There’s some other teams in the conference that are bringing back multiple seniors,” Connor said. “Those guys have gone through full seasons of basketball. Most of our guys played a freshman schedule, and then played a partial season and not a lot of the guys on the team played a ton. So going through a full 25-30 game season is going to be very rigorous for them.”
Mallek is making huge strides in his health and on the court, growing every day and practicing to get better than the day before. Mallek’s drive is only matched by his teammates to get better and bring the Sequoits another title.
