Preparing for two sports keeps Caleb Stokes on the go in the summer.
Stokes, who will be a senior at Ewing High School in September, juggles working out with the football and basketball teams during the summer.
Football, which he considers his better sport, meets four days per week and also does 7-on-7 twice per week.
Basketball has weight lifting and workouts early in the morning four days per week with summer league games in the Moody Park League on nights.
“It’s kind of exhausting, but I know in the long road it’s going to work out for me,” Stokes said.
Football begins officially with heat acclimatization on Aug. 6 and first practices Aug. 8. Stokes will be knocking down or intercepting passes as a defensive back for the Ewing football team.
“I think we’re going to be a good team,” he said. “I don’t know what it is, but I feel a ring this season.”
Basketball practices won’t begin officially until football is over, but he’s also preparing this summer to help Ewing’s basketball team, which reached the sectional quarterfinals and the Mercer County Tournament semifinals, remain one of the area’s best teams. Instead of disrupting passes, on the basketball court he’s best known for throwing passes and setting up teammates unselfishly.
“It’s just the way I’ve always played,” Stokes said. “Truthfully, I’d rather hear the crowd say, ‘good pass,’ and say nothing for a layup.”
Stokes is helping to replace the leadership that took a hit with the graduation of six seniors. The summer has given him the chance to step up into a bigger role.
Shelly Dearden, who coaches Ewing’s Moody Park team as well as the EHS varsity team, said that during the summer she looks for players who have the potential to be leaders. “Caleb Stokes is the one always getting people organized and doing this and doing that, he’s a leader on the court, a leader off the court. I’m trying to see who’s going to step up with him,” she said.
Stokes has been doing a good job of it since the end of the winter season. He has been a leader in preparing the team for next year.
The Moody Park League offers a chance to test that leadership in game action. Dearden is looking to see how the team comes together.
“You want to see them working hard together, trying to figure out each other, knowing where each other is going to be, what the point guard may be thinking, when the forward may be cutting to the basket,” Dearden said.
“In the summer, I kind of let the kids figure each other out because they’re always new, especially the last couple of years,” she said.
In June, the Blue Devils graduated six seniors. “It’s almost like replacing a whole team in a sense,” Dearden said. “I want to win the league, I want to win everything we play all the time, that’s just me, but what I really focus on is the chemistry part of the game, and the chemistry within the team.”
Ewing started to find some over a summer in which they lost just two games on their way to placing first in the Moody Park League regular season. After a first round bye, the team was expected to play a quarterfinal game against the winner of Council Rock verses South Brunswick on July 25.
The team’s success this summer is an encouraging sign for the winter season.
“There is kind of a measure you can get from playing in the Moody Park League and how your team is going to be throughout the year,” Dearden said. “I told them I remember different years where we came in different places and how successful we were then during the year. There is a measurement there from summer league to winter.”
Ewing has been tested by the league. It’s given them the chance to play tough opponents and see how they react together in game situations. Striving to win the summer league sets the standard.
“We played together and we played strong against the competition,” Stokes said. “Once the playoffs come, we need to play stronger. We need to get this championship.”
The league presents competition from schools in the area and into Pennsylvania that they don’t normally have the chance to play in the winter. For the players at EHS, it all happens in their backyard at Moody Park.
“Moody Park is a great experience for all the kids,” Dearden said. “It’s always crowded. There are always people watching. People go out there to watch good basketball. There’s always a crowd there, no matter who’s playing. That also gets you ready to play in front of a crowd during the year, so it helps that way too.”
Dearden credited league commissioner Mark Smith and his staff for their work running the league every year.
“They’re out there four days a week in front of people, but they’re actually there seven days a week behind the scenes,” she said. “They stop their whole summer for kids to be able to play. It’s an elementary school league, a middle school league, a girls league, a boys high school league. They really put their time and effort into keeping kids off the street and having a safe place for them to go. It’s really cool to see.”
Stokes is hoping to take the positive results from the summer into the high school season.
“You have to keep working,” he said. “We have hype to live up to. We can’t let the other people down because they know what we can do and we know what we can do.”
Stokes has been waiting for his moment to be a team leader and seizing that opportunity. The second oldest of four children of Terrance Stokes, who starred at Trenton High and the University of Pennsylvania, Stokes has jumped into that role for Ewing. He welcomes more responsibility in his final scholastic year.
“I do like it because I always wanted people to look to me to get the job done,” Stokes said. “I look to them to help them out. I’ve been looking forward to it, and it’s finally come.”
For football, he will be a part of the defensive side of the ball that has more experience back than the offensive side. For basketball, he’s critical as a ball-handler who can make his teammates better.
“I don’t think Caleb understands how much he brings to the table,” Dearden said. “Not just in leadership qualities. He’s responsible for a lot of assists. Caleb doesn’t like to score a lot, he gives the ball up to the open man.”
“Caleb didn’t score a point the other day,” she added, “but he was responsible for about 30 points,” She added. “That’s the kind of role that Caleb loves and Caleb succeeds at. If he has to make something happen, he will. He really enjoys setting up his teammates, and you don’t see that often. Caleb likes to be unselfish and share the ball, sometimes too much.”
Dearden insists that this year will be her final season as head coach of the boys basketball team. She also expects to step down from teaching after more than 30 years at Ewing.
“I’m at a different stage in my life right now,” Dearden said. “I’m moving toward a different part of my life. I’m going to be a grandmother so that’s exciting. My life is heading in a different direction than it’s been in the last 20 years. I’m pretty excited about that and moving on to that stage of my life.
“I had someone say, ‘Will you ever be totally out of it?’ Probably not. Athletics has been a part of my life since I was a young kid. I don’t see myself walking away totally 100 percent.”
Dearden says that decision won’t hit home until she’s not coaching next summer. She’s focusing on getting her team ready for this winter. And her players are doing the same with workouts, summer league and balancing their other commitments.
“Last year was supposed to be her last year too,” Stokes said. “You never know. I don’t think she can stay away from basketball.”
,
Dahvae’ Edwards-Chew jumps to make a shot during a Moody Park League game in 2018. The league will return once again this summer. (Photo by Suzette J. Lucas.),
