Preps

Amphi shooter loses year, gains perspective

Marwan Shehata could complain if he wanted. If everything had gone according to plan, the Amphitheater High School senior would have graduated last May with the friends he grew up with. He would be in college now, possibly at an Ivy League school, studying business economics or engineering. He would be a freshman on a Division I college basketball team if he had chosen that route, the dream of nearly every kid who ever dribbled a ball. Instead, Shehata is just an average high schooler with a 4.5 GPA and Harvard in hot pursuit, a 24-points-per-game scoring average, a jump shot that has some college programs drooling, all-state ability and a fan club that his principal and coach have spearheaded for years. Sound like there is any reason for him to grumble? Shehata doesn't think so either. Still, many have sent sympathy his way for the ordeal he went through in the 2003-04 school year, when he and his family were kept in their native Egypt longer than expected while their U.S. visas were renewed. Life went on without him at Amphi, albeit hesitantly, as the budding hoops star was an ocean away. He spent a year out of school, out of basketball and out of sync. Complaints? Not from the king of the silver lining. "I have to understand that this is my fate. I have to accept the way things went and keep moving," said Shehata, a 6-foot guard. "I didn't go through any hardships, really. I had a good time in my homeland, and things have gone well for me since I've been back." His story is well known within the small boys basketball circle in Tucson, but most people tuned in because they wondered when the scoring phenom would return to the hardwood - a curiosity built out of admiration for some and fear for most opponents. But appreciating the basketball player in Marwan Shehata provides only a glimpse of his true personality. He won't tell you of his exploits, of course, but his biggest fans, Amphi principal Patricia Harris and boys coach Pat Derksen, don't have enough hours in their day to adequately gush their praise. "He'll tell you that his first interest is academics, and I tell him, 'You're weird,'" Harris said with a laugh. "For a player who is as talented as he is, you'd think his passion would be basketball. "But he's so intense. He's so dedicated. If all kids were like him, we'd be out of work very soon because he can handle anything." Shehata's dedication spills over to the basketball court not only because he wants it to, but because Amphi so desperately needs it from him. The Panthers lost four starters from last year's team that went 25-4 and won the 4A Kino Region title, and he is the only returning player with real varsity experience. Almost inexplicably, the Panthers (8-1) waltzed to the Boyd Baker Invitational championship to start the season with a cast of relative unknowns alongside Shehata. "Anything is possible with Marwan," Derksen said. "He is a leader by example and the other kids are picking up on that. Most players are afraid of making mistakes out there, but Marwan has no fear. He's showing everyone else how to play the game." And so the player many regard as Southern Arizona's most feared shooter and scorer is back for another year, doing what he does best: shooting, scoring and winning. His newest role, however, might be the one that comes to define him best. "I have to come out and be a leader every game," Shehata said. "We knew coming in that if we played without fear, then things would work out fine. If I have to be the one to lead the way for the inexperienced guys, then I'll do that."