Jordan Persons’ life was destined to include basketball.
Just had to.
His dad, Scott, had played at Cloverdale and was a basketball coach.
To settle down Jordan for a night’s sleep his parents would put him in front of the TV set so he could watch the fastbreaks, dunks and turnovers.
Story would be complete if he was named after Michael Jordan, but not the case.
The Jordan River Utah Temple sat near his maternal grandparents’ home, and Cammy just liked the sound of the name Jordan and plucked it from there.
Anyway, Jordan—a senior—has become a basketball whiz at Cloverdale High School, leading the NCL1 league in scoring at nearly 19 points per game.
But he is only one-half of the Persons’ clan patrolling the hardwood at Cloverdale. His sister Kayli is a junior on the girls’ team, and is known more for her rugged style of play and defensive tenacity than ability to put the ball through the hoop.
“They are totally different, which makes them interesting,’’ Scott said. “Jordan is the scorer, but Kayli is the defensive player. She can score, but she’s on a team where that’s not required. If I could put the two of them together I’d have the best player around.’’
Jordan, 20 months older, is the one who started the basketball experience when he began playing CYO ball in fourth grade. Kayli followed a year later.
“He has been an influence in everything I did,’’ Kayli said. “I followed him into it for sure. It seemed like a fun, physical game. I decided to try it.’’
Of course Kayli’s spirit of adventure leads her to try many things. She and Jordan (and their parents) all got a black belt in Karate. She has played volleyball, but said she plans to ditch that for soccer during her senior year. And, she intends to try track this spring.
But basketball has been the driving force for her the past seven years. And, playing the role defined by defense and distributing the basketball to others suits her just fine.
“I feel like I’m the person to help other people score,’’ she said. “I create things to get us to score.’’
Not Jordan.
“I’m not afraid to shoot,’’ he said. “Some people have good shots, but are afraid to shoot. I take bad shots sometimes, but I try not to let it bother me. If you don’t shoot, you don’t score.’’
His coach, Pat Fitzgerald, said that Jordan is more than just a scorer, though.
“He is definitely a scorer, no doubt about it,’’ Fitzgerald said. “He shoots the ball very well. But he has basketball sense. Some players have it, some don’t. He has it.’’
The Cloverdale boys’ and girls’ teams are both enjoying excellent seasons. The girls are first in the league, the boys second. But they generally play on the same night, one team at home while the other toils on the road. So Jordan and Kayli rarely get to see each other play.
An exception is when the boys and girls play Willits, and those games are played the same night at the same site. That happens next on Friday night, Feb. 9.
They also get to occasionally watch each other play during the spring and summer AAU season, but Jordan’s NorCal Impact team played in far-flung areas like Sacramento, Tahoe and Reno, and Kayli’s North Bay Basketball Academy team played in Oregon and the Bay Area.
With scheduling the way it is, it creates a dilemma for their parents. This year, though, Jordan’s games have taken precedent.
“We had a sit-down with Kayli and said, ‘We are going to make more of his games than your games because it is senior year,’” Scott said.
But it may not be his last year. He is investigating playing at the junior college level, a path his coach had taken.
“I played junior college and then went to Hawaii-Hilo,’’ he said. “Hey, if he gets a chance, it could turn into something like that for him. If not, you can say you had a good experience and you get to play some more basketball.’’
At this point, Scott and Kayli have combined for about 23 years of basketball playing. And, even though they have a basketball hoop in their driveway and are good buddies, they seldom compete against each other.
“We used to play H-O-R-S-E but it wasn’t fun because I would win all the time,’’ Jordan said.
Sure.
You can’t play defense in H-O-R-S-E.
