By Adam Himmelsbach

Fredericksburg Christian High School’s campus sits on 75 acres in a wooded area off U.S. 17. All 280 students take Bible-study classes each day and go to chapel each week.

The Eagles’ athletic programs have a history of modest success, but it is widely understood that sports do not stand above academics and other extra curricular activities. Last winter, however, hints of change became evident.

A group of AAU team mates who had transferred to Fredericksburg Christian helped the boys basketball program emerge as an unlikely power.

Led by scintillating guard Seth Allen, the Eagles won a school-record 31 games.

Then over the summer, after Allen had blossomed into a top college recruit, seven basketball players left public schools to enroll at FCS, an unprecedented number.

This season, the Eagles’ roster includes transfers from Stafford, North Staf ford, Colonial Forge, Chancellor, Mountain View, Caroline, and Potomac high schools.

Many of these players have ties to a local AAU program, the Hoop Booth. The program’s director, Craig Boothe, and Fredericksburg Christian coach Darren Berkley acknowledged that Boothe has pointed several of his players toward FCS.

Berkley said he has never recruited a player to join the Eagles.

“We don’t want to be the stench of the community,” Berkley said. “We don’t want to steal teams’ players, and we want to be above board. But if these players contact us and apply here, we’re not going to ignore them.”

A NEW PIPELINE

The Amateur Athletic Union is one of the largest not-for-profit sports organizations in the country.

Elite AAU basketball teams travel the country to play in tournaments throughout the summer, and they have become an integral part of the college recruiting process.

Some area public school coaches said it raises ethical concerns that a local AAU team might ostensibly be a feeder program for a private school.

AAU guidelines state that it is “inappropriate for an AAU member to solicit or recruit a player to enroll in any particular secondary school.”

But Boothe maintains that he simply gave advice to some of his players who were already seeking new high schools. He added that this year’s group of transfers mostly talked each other into transferring to Fredericksburg Christian together.

“All I said was, ‘You may want to take a look,’” Boothe said. “For every kid that I say might want to go there, there are plenty who I tell not to.”

The recent influx of basketball players at FCS raises questions about whether the school’s standards are being compromised. It has accepted students who have completed several years of high school elsewhere, students who acknowledge that their main reason for enrolling is to play sports.

Four of this year’s transfers, all of whom entered the summer as rising seniors, are repeating their junior years. This option is offered at FCS and many other private schools for academic reasons.

But several FCS players said their main reason for reclassifying was to develop physically and become more attractive college basketball prospects.

“If that’s the idea,” Fredericksburg Christian Principal Cliff Williams said, “that won’t fit with us.”

HOW IT BEGAN

Craig Boothe says the AAU team he coaches, the Hoop Booth, is a “boutique program.” It operates in the shadow of more powerful teams found in Washington and Virginia Beach, but it has been effective.

In 11 years, Boothe has placed 28 players on college basketball teams.

Five years ago, he met Berkley while playing in a Stafford County adult league. They shared a love for coaching, but Berkley characterized their relationship as “more acquaintances than friends.”

Berkley told Boothe about a pair of Serbian transfer students at Fredericksburg Christian who were looking for an AAU team, and Boothe brought them into his pro gram.

Three years ago, when Hoop Booth team member Justin Hempe decided to transfer from Stafford High School, Boothe suggested he consider Fredericksburg Christian.

Hempe thrived at FCS, and last school year the possibility arose that three of his AAU teammates might join him.

“Coach Boothe thought it would be a great thing for us to just keep the same chemistry from the summer and bring it over into the high school season,” Hempe said.

Point guard Trey Rowser, who is Boothe’s nephew, transferred from Mountain View, and Allen left Hylton, taking on a 40-minute daily commute.

The AAU team’s 6-foot-11 center, Taylor Danaher, who had been home-schooled, became Fredericksburg Christian’s final new piece last season. Danaher, who lived in Riverbend’s school zone, had previously attended church services with his family in the FCS building.

“It was all Coach Boothe’s idea,” Allen said. “I think he saw the potential we had during AAU. He wouldn’t have told me to go to FCS if he didn’t think it was a good idea.”

AAU teams cannot practice or play games during a high school season, but at FCS, several Hoop Booth teammates were now able to play together year-round.

Boothe says he had no vested interest in uniting these four AAU teammates at one high school. He said the school just happened to fill a need for each of them.

Rowser and Allen wanted a change of scenery, and Danaher needed to be tested during a high school season.

“I attended four FCS games all of last season,” Boothe said. “I don’t sit on their bench and I don’t have anything to do with what coach Berkley does. I have no personal interest in the school. I could have easily said, ‘Hey, I want to be an assistant coach.’ But I don’t want to do that.”

The Eagles compete in the Delaney Athletic Conference, and the league’s handbook forbids schools from making first contact with a prospective athlete from another school. But there is no rule against an AAU coach acting as a conduit.

The Amateur Athletic Union’s national guidelines do discourage coaches from influencing a player’s path to a particular high school.

“I don’t want to say Craig Boothe promotes our school,” Berkley said, “but he says it’s a good alterna tive.”

Fredericksburg Christian’s players also had an impact on this movement. Hempe said his AAU teammates talked glowingly about the chance to play together.

Once the first round of transfers was complete, the basketball culture at the school was turned on its head. Featuring a breathless, fast-breaking style of play, the Eagles stormed to a 31–2 record last season.

They went 12–0 against much larger Fredericksburg- area public schools, and their only losses came against nationally ranked Montrose Christian of Rockville, Md., and Atlantic Shores in Virginia Beach.

College coaches began visiting Fredericksburg Christian to watch Allen’s workouts, and in May the rising senior committed to Maryland.

In a matter of months, FCS had transformed from a mostly unknown program into a basketball powerhouse.

After Hempe and Danaher graduated and joined the basketball teams at Bridgewater and Mount St. Mary’s, respectively, Allen encouraged his friends and AAU teammates at public schools to join him at FCS.

“He kept telling me to come here,” said A.J. Stevens, a former Colonial Forge forward who transferred to FCS this year. “People talked about how there would be college scouts at our games.”

TRANSFERS CONTINUING

Eric Shaw is a 6-foot-5 forward with a soft shooting touch.

As a junior at North Stafford last season, he averaged 11.5 points per game and earned all-district recognition with the Wolverines, who compete in the state’s largest enrollment classification, Group AAA.

Still, Shaw became envious as his AAU teammates crafted their magical season at Fredericksburg Christian. Last spring, while Shaw was still enrolled at North Stafford, Boothe introduced him to Berkley.

“Coach Boothe was like the steppingstone,” Shaw said.

Shaw visited a few Fredericksburg Christian workouts, and he later told Wolverines coach Brad Lear he intended to transfer. Lear was stunned.

“He was telling me it was best for me to stay,” Shaw said. “I was trying to tell him that in our district, we’re just playing the same people over and over. At FCS, you’re playing better competition and there are more games, and I get to be with my Hoop Booth teammates.”

Said Lear: “We obviously were disappointed. But we don’t have a team, we have a program. If Eric felt this is what was best for him, then good luck to him. But we’ve moved on.”

Former Stafford coach Steve Spicer, who retired this past summer after 22 seasons, said he was concerned that as many as three Stafford players would transfer to FCS this year. Two ultimately returned to the Indians, but guard Brendan Hughes joined the Eagles.

Spicer, who has donated money to Fredericksburg Christian, said the sudden rush of transfers from public schools to FCS has been alarming.

“If kids want to go there for a good Christian educa tion, I think that’s great,” he said. “But if there’s some body steering them that way for basketball purposes, then I don’t think that’s right.”

When the dust settled over the summer, Fredericksburg Christian’s roster had undergone an extreme makeover. Shaw, Stevens and Hughes were joined by Chancellor’s Delante Victory, who does not play for Hoop Booth but befriended the players while working out at the Sports Booth athletic complex. All four reclassified as juniors this year.

“Hoop Booth is the common factor between most of these players,” Lear said. “You can make your own decision as far as what they’re trying to do with their system.”

The basketball team also added a pair of Caroline transfers, Cody Goode and A.J. Addison, who play football but are not members of Hoop Booth. Aaron Alexander, a longtime friend of Allen’s, transferred from Potomac.

The impact of the new arrivals from public schools reverberated through the Eagles’ roster. This year, three returning varsity players decided not to try out for the team.

Berkley said none of the three had visions of playing college basketball, but acknowledged that “they probably saw some of the writing on the wall” that their playing time would decrease.

FCS STARTED SMALL

When Fredericksburg Christian School was founded in 1979 by Gary and Andy Foss, it had just 30 students and four teachers. Classes were held at First Christian Church.

Since then, it has blos somed to include schools on three campuses, including the high school in Spotsylvania, which was founded in 1991.

There is a thorough admissions process. Prospective students must fill out applications, go through testing with the guidance department and then complete an interview with Williams, the principal.

Previous academic records are studied closely, and Williams said it is important that a student maintain Christian values. Nowhere during the process, Williams said, is a student’s athletic ability considered.

Full tuition at Fredericksburg Christian is about $8,500 a year. There are no scholarships, but need-based financial aid is offered. The amount allotted to each student is determined by an outside firm, and Williams said participation in athletics is not a factor.

Once a player is accepted, he has opportunities—both athletic and academic—that a public school simply cannot offer.

Fredericksburg Christian is an independent school, so it is not subject to the rules and regulations of the Virginia High School League.

VHSL teams are allowed a maximum of 22 regular- season games, but FCS routinely plays 30. This season, the Eagles are scheduled to play in two showcase events in Virginia Beach and another in Maryland.

“When I told some of my friends I was transferring,” Shaw said, “they said they hoped they’d see me on TV.”

The chance to reclassify academically was alluring to basketball players at FCS.

Most incoming students are offered the chance to repeat a grade, and some are required to. But Williams said these decisions are never related to participation in sports.

But several players interviewed for this story said they viewed the reclassification as a chance to develop physically and become more promising college basketball prospects.

“I wanted the chance to get bigger and stronger and have a better bond with the team,” Victory said. “And if I don’t do as well academically, I have another year.”

Boothe said college coaches often tell him that a recruit could use an extra season to develop physically.

But when Williams learned recently that these reclassifications could be related to basketball, he found it unsettling.

“It’s about academics,” Williams said. “If we reclassify somebody, it’s to strengthen them academically.”

WILL SUCCESS CONTINUE?

Fredericksburg Christian is off to a 7–2 start this year. It crushed Spotsylvania, the only area public school team it has faced, 102–44. The Eagles will also play Massaponax and Courtland this year.

FCS was originally scheduled to play in Colonial Forge’s four-team holiday tournament this winter.

But before the season began, Colonial Forge coach Jason John contacted Fredericksburg Christian and said he’d accidentally overbooked the tournament with five teams.

Stevens, one of Fredericksburg Christian’s transfers this year, played for Colonial Forge last season. John said Stevens’ departure played no role in the decision to rescind the Eagles’ invitation.

“It’s just personal preference that I decided to go with four public schools,” John said. “We let them know that up front.”

Spicer, the former Stafford coach, thinks area public school coaches will become hesitant to schedule FCS if the exodus continues.

Of course, the Eagles are having no trouble filling their schedule. This season they already have wins against the prestigious IMG Academies of Bradenton, Fla., and Cape Henry Collegiate in Virginia Beach.

Boothe and Williams, the principal, said the pipeline from Boothe’s AAU team to Fredericksburg Christian could continue to flow in the coming years.

“I think it’ll be long-term,” Boothe said. “FCS has been very open-armed.”

Allen remains the program’s crown jewel. Over the summer he joined the nation’s top college prospects at the Reebok Camp, where he befriended Washington Wizards star John Wall. The two have remained in contact.

But since Allen has already signed with Maryland, college coaches are no longer swarming to FCS. The reality is that none of the other players on the roster is as sought-after as Allen was.

When Allen is removed from the formula next season, it is unclear whether it will remain an attractive destination for area public school players.

“Fredericksburg Christian is definitely more of a basketball school now,” Allen said. “I’m not sure what will happen when I leave.”

Adam Himmelsbach: 540/374-5442 ahimmelsbach@freelancestar.com