High school senior Justin Monden’s basketball career was launched in his driveway with encouragement from his grandfather. Monden’s first organized game occurred at the age of five in the Upward league. And now, twelve years later, he is one of the best point guards in Raleigh, playing for Heritage High School, and he is highly sought after by college recruiters. Attaining this level of play has not been easy. Monden puts in countless hours into his training, going between high school practice, training sessions, and shoot arounds with his dad. “It used to just be for fun,” Monden said. “At this point, I kind of have to prove to other people, myself also, you came this far you got to finish. I still love it. That’s probably why I still go so hard.”
Every Sunday, Monden tavels to the Boys Club in Raleigh to train with Hoop State broadcaster Anthony Simmons and fellow athletes. Monden and Simmons’ relationship commenced when Monden was 10 years old. Simmons coached Monden on his 8th grade AAU team and has been training Monden ever since, specifically working on his shot. “Over the last few years, I’ve seen his game grow into really a complete player on both sides of the ball,” Simons said. “He’s dunking the basketball now, he’s rebounding, he’s blocking shots over the rim.” During football season, Monden trained with Simmons only once a week. Now, Monden will train with Simmons approximately three times a week.
Trainer Anthony Simmons’ impact on Monden’s game has been immense. “For me, it’s more about helping a young man and a family reach something that they’ve been trying to achieve for a long time,” Simmons said. “It’s bigger than basketball. He’s a kid that deserves it.” During the training sessions Simmons and Monden will work on skills such as ball handling, shooting, and 1 v. 1 competition. “I mean Justin is a kid that number one he works hard, number two he has great academics and then number three, him and his parents have been at this for a long time,” Simmons said.
Monden has had the same group of friends since he was young. Monden, Jaylan Bowen (middle) and Myles Pettis (right) met when playing basketball in the third grade. Even though they are all seniors at different high schools, they train together at least once a week at the Raleigh Boys Club.
Shooting basketball with his dad is more or less a nightly event. Monden has a similar routine for each session. He begins with layups and eventually moves his way beyond the three-point line. At each spot, he makes 10 shots before moving to the next, ending with a few dunks. Monden makes at least 300 shots during every session. Monden’s dad, William, along with his grandfather, introduced him to the sport of basketball. “My dad’s my biggest motivation when it comes to that,” Monden said. “It’s important to him, so I’m gonna make it even more important to me.”
The Monden family is very busy, so sitting down as a family to eat dinner is rare. Even when they do get to sit down and eat dinner, basketball is a topic of discussion between Monden and his dad. “My dad’s been the biggest help, recruiting-wise and then basketball-wise,” Monden said. “He’s a big sports geek because he has two kids that are really into sports. Every time a school calls me, he’ll research the school and show me or send me stuff about the school.”
Even though Monden is best known for being a great basketball player, he is a student too. Other students recognize him and say hi as he walks through the halls of his high school.
For Monden, basketball is not only a physical game, but a mental game too. Monden aims to prepare himself for every aspect of basketball, both on and off the court, including film session. During this session, Monden’s high school coach, Tilden Brill, said “It’s important you are mentally locked in.” Being a great basketball player comes not only comes with extra recognition, but extra criticism to refine one’s play.
At every practice, Coach Brill begins with a quote that each player is expected to memorize by the end of practice. The quote for this practice was “Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard.” Monden embodies this quote by being a clear leader on his team. “Our team is young,” Monden said. “I want to lead them. A lot of them came from JV. I want to give them a good first year of varsity experience. That comes first and as a team I really want us to win conference.”
Monden pulls up at the elbow for a jumper at his first home game of the season versus Broughton High School. Monden recorded 28 points, while also adding 4 rebounds, 4 assists, and 3 steals.