Turn on ESPN any given night during the basketball season and a viewer sees constant highlights of rim-rattling dunks and three-point baskets sailing through the rim from afar.
Rarely are some of the most important blue collar plays shown: rebounds. Breon Bostic delights in that element. The junior post player for the Largo High School Packers, his entire game can be summed up in one word: rebounding.
"That's the first thing I learned when I first started playing basketball as a kid," Bostic said before a recent Packers practice. "Rebounding is the first thing I learned how to do. When I first started playing, my coaches told me, 'Don't shoot. Don't dribble. Rebound.' "I developed my game around that."
And what a game that is. Bostic is clearly the star with the Packers, always a competitive team if not a squad competing for a state crown. In the early weeks of the season, Bostic has turned into a force for Largo. He's averaging 23 points a game and perhaps more importantly, 14 rebounds a game.
"It seems natural to rebound," Bostic said. "When the ball comes off the rim, I'm there."
And he's there for his team. Discussing Bostic, his coach, Phil Price, raves about the 6-foot-3-inch senior.
"When the ball is thrown up, he wants to win," Price said. "Not every player has that kind of competitive desire."
That desire was displayed last week against maybe the best team in Pinellas County this season, Boca Ciega High School Pirates. Bostic rolled an ankle, a painful injury. But Price could barely keep Bostic off the court despite the injury. Bostic's rugged play helped keep the Packers within striking distance of the Pirates, despite the ankle.
Days following the game, the ankle was so tender, Bostic needed the aid of crutches just to get around.
"All he needs is a good tape job and he will be back on the court," Price joked.
But it's that type of desire that Bostic prides himself in.
"That is the main thing, that is my main goal right now," Bostic said of his passion to play. "I do that because I try to make [teammates] better. A lot of my teammates feed off of me. They see success and they want to succeed too. Maybe if I work hard like that, my team can succeed."
