Mark Collins stands in front of P.S. 11 in Clinton Hill, where he’s a fourth-grader. Photo courtesy of Andy Furman
Mike Senior has found his next “gym rat.” And his name is Mark Collins.
“He’s a workaholic and a gym rat,” Senior told the Brooklyn Eagle. “Mark’s future is in college basketball. He’s already fundamentally sound, and he already knows how to teach the game. He has perfect form on his shot, and it’s his early trademark.”
Oh, did we forget to mention. Mark Collins is in the fourth grade at P.S. 11 in Brooklyn’s Clinton Hill neighborhood.
But Mike Senior knows talent — the former coach at Tilden and Benjamin Banneker Academy directs the Selvyn Smith Memorial Sports and Educational Program, with alumni, he says of about 14,000.
Some of the students who have “graduated” from Senior’s tutoring include Dwayne (Pearl) Washington of Syracuse University and the New York Nets; Lawrence (Bud) Pollard of West Virginia University; and Charles Jones, of Rutgers University, LIU and the Chicago Bulls.
The 75-year-old tutor says Mark Collins will be added to that list of famous alums.
Senior and Collins met at P.S. 11 where the elder trains kids who are 10 to 16 years old in basketball Mondays and Wednesdays from 7 to 8:15 a.m.
“We’re getting prepared for college now,” Senior said.
But first young Mark Collins has to make the school basketball team.
“Mark tried out for the basketball team at P.S. 11 and didn’t make it,” his mom Laura told the Eagle. “It was all my fault; I didn’t take him to the second tryout because I had to work.”
And that’s when Collins met Senior. “Coach Mike is the best,” Mom, an athlete of her own who was a gymnast at UCLA, said. “Mark gets up without even asking for those twice-a-week classes.”
As for his progress, she says he’ll get better over time, “But I’ve seen his ballhandling getting better and he’s blossoming with his teammates. He talks and has great eye contact…
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