Recruiting Report: James Valle (2017)
October 13, 2015 As one of the Maryland’s best 2017’s James Valle gets set to start his junior season at Good Counsel, he continues to develop his guard skills and has seen some new Division I interest come his way.…
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Continue ReadingOctober 13, 2015
As one of the Maryland’s best 2017’s James Valle gets set to start his junior season at Good Counsel, he continues to develop his guard skills and has seen some new Division I interest come his way.
“I’ve recently been contacted by Holy Cross, and I attended their elite camp, and they said they would keep in touch. I also went to the James Madison elite camp this summer. I haven’t really talked to my coach about any other schools that may have reached out, but I did also receive some mail from Quinnipiac,” said Valle, who spent his spring training with a personal trainer and his summer playing with District Basketball Club.
“This summer I was really working on footwork most importantly, and then I worked on my speed and handles, and then situations I might encounter while I play the two. It was different , I was out of my comfort zone for a while, but I grew into it.”
The 6-foot-4 wing has been starting with the Falcons since his freshman season, and says as he heads into his upperclassmen years, leadership will be his emphasis.
“My role definitely will change even more, this year I feel like I’ll need to take more of a leadership role,” said Valle. “This is a very important year for me, I feel like I’ll have to lead on and off the court, and increase my production on both sides of the ball.”
April 27, 2015
With some early Division I interest and a summer that be will spent working with trainers five days a week, James Valle is determined to become one of 2017's elites.
He's had no direct contact with college coaches, but says his coach has — including three D1 programs from near and far.
“Butler gave my coach a call and said they were one of the schools interested, and he told me recently that Xavier had called and asked about me, and also Colgate in New York had asked about me too,” said Valle, who also mentioned one West Virginia Division II program.
“Also Wheeling Jesuit sent me something in the mail last summer.”
The sophomore, PHM's 40th-ranked 2017, says his role increased dramatically this season with Good Counsel.
“I feel like I was more aggressive scoring-wise, and the coaches and everybody let me know how much they needed me on the offensive end and the defensive end,” said Valle. “They were always stressing about how much more aggressive I’d have to be compared to my freshman year.”
A 6-foot-4 wing, Valle has primarily played small forward throughout his youth, but he’s in the process of transitioning into more of a guard role — a position he sees himself playing in college.
“Right now I'm being moved up to the shooting guard as my primary position because I’ve been working on my ball-handling, and eventually that’s where I’ll be playing at the next level,” he said. “I won’t be a 6-foot-4 small forward in college and be undersized like that, so I know I need to get in the gym a lot and get my handles and my speed up.”
Instead of taking the traditional route of an offseason playing with a grassroots program, Valle says he’ll be taking this spring off to train individually, and he’ll resume on the grassroots circuit this summer during the July live periods.
“Me and father decided it would be best to just work this offseason (spring) on my game,” said Valle.