Being 'so stinkin' physical'

Kraig Shirley likes to dance.

He'll bust a move any time he hears music.

"My friends and my best friend, we're always dancing whenever we can. We like to have a good time," Shirley said. "Whenever we get at chance and have some music we like to boogie."

But the basketball court is probably the Winslow junior's favorite place to get his feet moving.

Whether it's straight down the lane or jumping through defenders in the paint, Shirley dances like his feet are on fire.

"Craig has always been extremely gritty," said Winslow coach Ricky Greer. "As a freshman, the coach at the time stuck him in middle. He was absolutely amazing to watch. You could really see his ability, his ability to shake defenders."

Shirley comes from a long line of basketball players. His mother played high school basketball for Winslow and later college. The 16-year-old said it was because of his family that he started playing basketball.

"We played one-on-one to 21," he said, "playing seven games all day. When you wake up till you go to sleep, we were just always playing."

As a freshman he made the varsity but didn't start until after the first game of the season. Shirley said being a starting freshman wasn't easy and he battled nervousness at the beginning.

"I was nervous, real conservative. I didn't really want to mess up," he said. "My coach, he helped me a lot. He didn't yell at me so much and helped me progress as a player."

As a starter, he felt a lot of pressure. He said the older players thought he needed to prove that he could play.

Shirley is also a mature athlete.

"Craig is definitely a leader by example," Greer said. "His ability to go in and be so stinkin' physical in the post, how strong he plays, it just bleeds off to everybody else."

Star players are often seen as selfish, Greer said.

"People don't see how unselfish Craig Shirley really is," he said. "He puts his family first, he's a great role model for younger athletes and younger students."

Craig's mother Jackie Shirley said he filled some big shoes in terms of responsibility because she was a single mother most of his early life.

"Craig has actually had to grow up a lot quicker than Courtney (Craig's older sister who plays on the girls' team) had to," she said. "He's the man of the house and now a lot of the load has been taken off of him not that I've married."

He's also matured academically. Jackie said one thing most people don't see about Craig is how important school is to him and how seriously he takes it.

She said she has stressed to her children the importance of a higher education.

"Ever since we were small my mom stressed keep our grades up and we just kept our grades up," Craig said.

Craig and his older sister maintain a 4.0 GPA.

"I am extremely proud of them in the classroom as well as what they do on the court," Jackie said. "They continue to carry a 4.0, both of them, that's the one thing I think they earned for themselves.

"I really, really hope and pray they do quite well in college," she added.

One thing that remains Craig's and his alone is his ability to shake and bake.

"I think it just all started when you're a kid," he said. "I was the youngest, the smallest. I was eight playing at 10-and-under. I was always playing with people that were better and much older than me.

"I like to entertain," he said. "I'm 5-9, I like to play with the big guys.

"When I play basketball I'm free on the court," he said. "I don't worry about nothing. But once I put that ball down it's back to life, no more me, the hoop and the ball."

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