Jauquin Bennett-Boire: The Tri-Brid
According to the Dictionary, a Hybrid is defined by the following:
• Bred from two distinct races, breeds, varieties, species, or genera
• Powered by more than one source of power
Typically, multi-positional players are pigeon-holed into a specific category when their skills are assessed through a lens, mainly because the evaluator comes from an era, time or ideology where each position (1-2-3-4 & 5) came with a specific lens they are to be viewed through.
For example, lead-guards who are usually the smallest on the team– whose sole purpose or contribution to their team’s success has always been to handle the ball, play good defense, distribute the ball, control tempo and be the savvy extension of the coach on the floor.
Meanwhile, the traditional shooting-guard was mainly viewed as a knock down shooter or a tremendous scorer. Usually it was the small-forward that would be deemed the most versatile or athletic player on the team.
The power-forward is usually looked at as a utility player, and the center has always been considered the B.M.O.C. (Big-Man-On-Campus) looked upon to hold-down the painted area.
Consequently, when student-athletes emerge that are multi-faceted and can dominate games in non-traditional ways – many times the performance of these players are misinterpreted or deemed non-productive because their games cannot be allocated to a specific traditional category.
One of the years I coached at Five Star Basketball camp, I was lucky to be awarded the opportunity to draw the #1 pick for my team. At this time, I had no clue who LeBron James was.
However, after watching tryouts at Five Star which was similar to witnessing mayhem–coaches rotating to assess 20 full length courts to identify top talent and most importantly, the diamonds in the rough–I knew who my first pick would be.
The league commissioner stated that the first round of picks had to be centers and that these so called centers had to be 6’6” and taller.
Well coincidentally, LeBron (who was going into his grade-11 year) was listed at a misleading 6’5. I argued with the league commissioner vigorously and even went to the extent of calling LeBron over to show the discrepancy in height and that he was clearly 6’6 if not 6’7.
The commissioner was not budging and as time went on, Howard Garfinkle (the historical Basketball Hall of Fame Co-Director) even came over to intervene. To make a long story short, the commissioner either couldn’t see or didn’t want to see that just because I was willing to draft LBJ as a center (5-man) doesn’t mean that I wasn’t going to place him in a system that wouldn’t allow him to display his tremendous talents.
Now I am not comparing the physical capabilities of LBJ and Jauquin by any stretch of the imagination, but I feel my personal account at camp is relevant as some people have the vision and capabilities to see the worth in a player and put them in a position to be successful; or in basketball terms, develop an offensive system to exploit mismatches meanwhile providing a team defensive scheme to protect, preserve and/or camouflage those same players’ defensive capabilities (because of the mismatch can be a double-edge sword) tactically and within the team scheme.
Many times this inability to think outside-of-the-box, usually leads to these players’ hopes and dreams being pushed towards an unfortunate decent of slipping through the cracks.
Well, taking the above into consideration – at the tender age of 16, the physical frame of 6’2” and weighing at an astonishing 210 pounds – meet Jauquin Bennett-Boire, or as I like to call him, ”The Tribrid.”
Bennett-Boire is far from your typical lead-guard; as he can dominate a game as a leader, as a scorer or by brute-physical-force.
Jauquin Bennett-Boire is the son of Susan Boire and Wayne Bennett. His father Wayne was a 6’3” 200 pound lead-guard that played at George Harvey secondary school in Toronto where he was dubbed a GTA All Star and named top 10 in Ontario. Wayne, who didn’t qualify for the NCAA Clearinghouse was signed, sealed and delivered to suit-up for Jerry Hemmings and his always athletic, tenacious and entertaining Brandon University Bobcats where he contributed to the Bobcats 1988-89 National Championship Team.
While living in Saskatoon, Wayne started his own basketball club program called “Saskatoon Suns” and this is where Jauquin first started displaying his talents during competitive community basketball runs. The Suns won many tourneys in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba over a five-year span.
However, basketball has not been the only sport Jauquin has excelled in as he was also a high level fastball pitcher with Saskatoon Phantoms and trained with National team pitching Coach Don Bates since he was seven years old–winning two provincial championships as starting pitcher.
In addition, JBB was an accomplished football player as he competed as a top running back, linebacker, kickoff and punt returner in minor football.
Jauquin has always been a man amongst boys in regards to his own age group – as a 12-year old he tallied 61 points, 20 rebound and 15 assists. Dominating performances as such has not only illuminated his apparent dominance; but, also has been the foundation reason as to why Jauquin has always been encouraged to play two-years ahead of his age group.
Subsequently, Bennett-Boire earned a roster spot with Team Saskatchewan where he continued his oddly mature impact, dominating at the 2011 national championships, and continuing to build his young resume.
Eventually, Jauquin moved to British Columbia (as a result of his Father’s employment) where his impact was immediately felt; in his freshman campaign he averaged 20 points, 10 rebounds and 8 assist per game for the a young Yale Lions squad. His freshman season was captivated by a clutch 27 point game performance that secured the Lions the final spot in the BC Provincial Tournament.
The Lions Head Coach at that time was long time veteran Al Friesen and when I contacted him, the crafty veteran had this to say about Bennett-Boire, “Jauquin has the intellect and physical tools to play at a high level; if his investment of sweat equity matches his physical skills, he will meet with much success in the future.”
As a tenth-grader, Jauquin’s stats continued to raise eyebrows as he averaged a regular season jaw dropping 27 points, 12 rebs, and 9 assists and has established a Provincial Tournament career average of 22.8 points 9.2 rebs and 5.5 assists.
Considering the above, one can only imagine that Bennett-Boire has been the immediate focus of opposing teams (locally in BC & nationally) as they have tried gallantly to devise multiple defenses geared towards if not stopping – than at least containing the young and talented prospect.
During the 2012 National Championships and competing against the always highly talented, deep – Team Ontario (eventual gold medal winner), Bennett-Boire was in the process of literally eating Ontario’s food.
Being the young, intelligent and talented Head Coach Jeff Giovanatti is, he decided it was better to be safe than sorry so he elected to force the ball out of Jauquin’s hands (immediate double team) and deny him a return pass as if he was a repeated aggravated-felon seeking freedom, meanwhile going before a ruthless Judge that had warned him vigorously not to return to his courtroom.
In my discussion with Coach Giovanatti, he remembers the young phenom and had this to say, “Jauquin was a player that can catch a coach’s eye. At the 2012 U-15 national championships in Sherbrooke, Quebec he was a solid point guard for the BC squad displaying strengths in shooting, and getting to the paint.”
“As a coach, I think it is nice to have a point guard who can put his teammates in scoring positions and against us in round robin play he had six assists to go along with his 20 points.”
That year Jauquin helped BC secure a bronze medal, and secured a deserving spot on the first All Star team.
This past summer, Bennett-Boire was recruited to leave Canada to play his graded 11 and 12 seasons (this year & next) at Sunrise Christian Academy in Wichita, Kansas on a full academic/athletic scholarship. Jauquin initially accepted the invitation, but rescinded his commitment due to personal reasons and is now back in BC, excelling at Holy Cross Secondary School.
“Jauquin has improved our team dramatically. He has a natural ability to make the right decision on the floor whether it is an assist or bucket,” explained Holy Cross Head Coach Matt LeChasseur. “He is a very unselfish player who loves to push the ball and make his teammates shine. Most teams cannot key on one player anymore as he is also a threat from the three-point line and as a penetrator.”
When Coach LeChasseur was asked about his personal perception of Jauquin’s future as a potential Post-Secondary Student-Athlete, he had this to say,” Jauquin has not even scratched the surface of his potential. His decision-making ability at high speeds is second to none. He can create his own shot, has great body control while penetrating, superb ball handling skills in transition and in the half court. He is a good teammate and leader. He is definitely an NCAA prospect and with his work ethic, skill set and academic abilities his future is very bright. We are looking forward to helping him achieve all his team and personal goals this year and next year.”
The 6’2 guard, who holds a 90% academic average, has picked up an offer from Seattle University, while drawing interest from the likes of Santa Clara, NMSU, Pepperdine, Portland, Lehigh, Washington State, Montana, UC Irvine, UC Riverside and Oregon St.
Bennett-Boire will also be competing this spring and summer against strong American competition on the AAU circuit with DRIVE, a club program based out of British Columbia.
Being a Canadian Citizen, I love the Canada’s Got Talent commercial that is played repeatedly on our NBA-TV feed. It has become increasingly obvious that our talent is pretty much second to none when it comes to the sport of basketball, and it has also become increasingly apparent that this plethora of talent extends across this beautiful country from border-to-border.
