IN SEARCH OF A COURT

Player with hopes of playing college ball travels for hoops

By LUKE OLSON

For the DAILY RECORD

Gavin Marrs would find a way.

As the coronavirus ravaged the country in March of 2020, just after the high school basketball season finished, it halted any organized practices or games and access to gyms for personal use. And just after a promising season for the 6-foot-9 forward of Ellensburg High School, seeing plenty of minutes off the bench, he had to go months without finding a gym.

But Marrs, who plays select with Friends of Hoop Seattle (FOH), didn’t let it stop his progression.

“I would shoot outside, and workout outside, mostly by myself,” he said. “And then lots of weights – tons of weights over the spring and summer. It was basically all I was doing.”

Surely helps to have a court in the backyard, especially when all the parks in Ellensburg removed the rims to keep people from gathering last spring and summer.

Even last fall and winter when restrictions eased up, Marrs would have to make a two-hour trip over the Snoqualmie Pass to the West Side to find an open gym, often using Bellevue College’s. And his parents would drive him over at least twice a week to make that happen.

Dedication for the sophomore who gained interest from a few Division I and II programs over last summer.

NO GYM TIME

“I had a solid five months where I didn’t get into a gym at all, which is pretty crazy,” Marrs said. “And that’s how it was for everyone, not just me. That’s the biggest challenge, even now Ellensburg High School is letting us in a couple of days a week, but still, whenever I want to get into a gym I’ve had to drive two hours over to Seattle.”

Finally, in August, his FOH 16U team was allowed practices at Bellevue College and then began vying in tournaments out of the state in Idaho (Boise), Utah (Salt Lake City) and Arizona (Phoenix).

And it surely helped him gain recognition.

Marrs received offers from Cal Poly University and Point Loma Nazarene University and said he’s heard from Portland, Pepperdine and UC San Diego.

In the beginning, he worried that the pandemic would hurt his recruitment, but put it into perspective: that every recruit is dealing with the same issues.

ALL IN THE SAME BOAT

“Going into summer after freshman year, that would have been big to play in the NCAA live period tournaments, have some coaches there watching — that would have been big, for sure,” he said. “It’s been alright, either way, same thing everyone’s going through. The coaches are adapting and watching film online.

Marrs’ height is the obvious advantage, with plenty of touch around the rim and mid-range. You can only imagine his ceiling if he grows even more and continues to gain strength. He’s one of the top players in the state for the 2023 class and ranks No. 22

Ellensburg High School’s Gavin Marrs (40) shoots against Grandview High School in the EHS gymnasium during the 2019-2020 season. With sports shut down, the EHS sophomore, with hopes of playing college ball, had to travel to find a gym.

according to Scorebook Live.

“One of the first things that jumps out at you in Marrs’ length,” it says in Scorebook Live’s post about the EHS sophomore. “And then once you watch him play his athleticism is quickly apparent. He has the ability to run the floor well and should be good as a transition big. He isn’t a tremendous jumper but is quick off the floor, allowing him to be active on the glass and in contesting shots at the rim.”

With Washington state approved for advancement to Phase 3, it means high school basketball will be set to begin this spring. While no tournaments will occur, it’s still a chance for players to get back on the floor.

Since the Bulldogs’ last game, a loss in districts of March 2020, Marrs believes his skills have grown tremendously.

“I feel like I’ve grown a lot,” he said. “I had a lot of time to work on my body, work on my skills because we didn’t play, so I was able to get stronger, get more fundamental work on stuff. I feel like I’ve taken a pretty big leap from freshman year to now sophomore year.” v

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