It was early December on an unusually warm day in St. Johns County in northeast Florida. The Pedro Menendez High School gym was near empty at 6:20 p.m., 20 minutes after the game’s scheduled start time. The other team, the North Florida Educational Institution, was running late.
With slicked back hair and a grey Pedro Menendez collared pullover, Adam Correia waited patiently for the rivals to arrive. Waiting patiently is something he has become quite used to, as he is currently about to begin the H-1B visa application process for the second time.
If the result of his first application is anything like his second, his days of coaching in the U.S. may be numbered, for now.
Correia’s journey in basketball began in Bermuda, where he says he didn’t get involved with the game until middle school.
Before Basketball became his main focus, he was successful in the Karting circuit. “The first year I won the whole year for the young kids, and then I also won the high points championship because I won the most races out of all the classes,” said Correia.
Though he enjoyed the feeling of winning, he wasn’t sold devoting all his time to go-kart racing. “I was like, I don’t know if I really like this, but I like winning,” said Correia.
He didn’t have the same doubts about basketball.
He had started going to a Saturday morning workout with one of his old coaches. They called it the “School of Excellence.”
It was during those workouts that Correia, then 14, decided that he wanted to turn his interest in the game into a career path.
“I went once and I couldn’t finish it. It was a challenge, and I said, oh I like this,” said Correia. “I did that camp for a month and it was like, wow, I love this game, I can’t get enough of it. I’m going to do everything I can to be around it.”
Back at the Pedro Menendez gym, south of the historic town of St. Augustine, the North Florida Educational Institution (NFEI) finally arrived.
Pedro Menendez players quickly got down to business, using a full-court press to create a flurry of turnovers. Correia’s coaching style is both laid back and assertive, frantic, yet under control. He knows exactly what he wants his team to do two plays before it happens, and it shows. Menendez jumps out to a 29–8 lead at the end of the first quarter.
Much like his Pedro Menendez junior varsity team, Correia also adopted a figurative full-court press of his own after discovering his passion for the game, but not without facing some adversity.
“I tried out for the middle school team when I was still racing go-karts, and I didn’t make it my first time,” says Correia. “I thought, OK, I guess this isn’t for me, but then through the Saturday morning workouts, the coach saw me and said, oh, you have potential.”
Through the School of Excellence workouts, Correia was able to convince the same coach that cut him he was worthy of a spot on the roster, leading to his appearance in every game for the same team that had rejected him earlier in the year.
Once he made the middle school team, Correia’s time playing Basketball in Bermuda progressed similarly to most high school players in the states. However, coming to the end of his senior year, the realization hit that his four years in Bermuda may have hindered his exposure to colleges.
This is when a friend, former University of Marshall guard Erica Woods, told him about a prep high school that she had attended in Florida, IMG Academy.
Correia visited IMG and took part in a workout which included future NBA players, and from that moment he knew that the school was for him.
“I fell in love the second I got there,” said Correia.
While at IMG, Correia played for the post-graduate team, which was coached by Daniel Bartow, now the current skills trainer for the Academy and de facto leader of the NBA pre-draft workouts.
|
