Teddy Parham: The Journey of a Budding Prospect

SMC #10, Ja’Shawn Chisel, a 6’4” freshman small forward from Denver, Colorado and East High School, and SMC #1, Teddy Parham, a 6’2” sophomore point guard from Notre Dame High School listen to Coach Thomas during a time out in the final regular-season game at Santa Monica College on Friday, Feb. 21, 2020 at the Santa Monica College Gymnasium. The Corsairs won the game against West Los Angeles College 91-81 in front of a crowd of 255 people from both schools. (Glenn Zucman/The Corsair)

The goal of the majority of community college athletes is to earn a scholarship to a Division I College by the end of their sophomore season. Take sophomore Point Guard, and Santa Monica College (SMC) budding prospect Teddy Parham after finishing an exceptional season. The Point Guard from Notre Dame High School chose SMC over the closer Glendale Community College, noting the chance to play his natural position, and how the new team was going to look.

“They were giving me an opportunity to play again, and play point guard… and just all the new people coming in, I knew it could be a fresh start,” Parham said.

Parham was coming on to a Corsair team that had eight to nine freshmen (him included), and three to four sophomores. Parham arrived in the 2018-19 basketball season. Prior to that, the Corsairs had only won three out of 28 games, and that was a red flag for him before choosing SMC, but the new start enticed the young point guard.

In his first season, the Corsairs earned a 20-win season, and made it to the elite eight of the playoffs, but was eliminated. Parham acknowledged, “because we had so many freshmen, and three or four sophomore it was a lot of immaturity on the team honestly, and I feel like that’s where [we fell off]”.

Although some may view that season a failure, it gave the young team a chance to comeback and redeem itself. That offseason Parham decided to step up, and become a leader for the team. He played a sizable role this past season in leading the Corsair to another 20-win season, and back to the playoffs before an exit in the third round.

Parham is always working on his on-court game, from Amateur Athletic Union (AAU), throughout high school up until now, he’s always found things to work on. “I would say it’s gotten more precise, I think I could say every year I’ve played, every level of competition it just gets more precise,” Parham explained. Precision is something that shows up in his game on the court during play, by controlling the tempo of the game when necessary, and being precise with where he makes his next move with the ball.

At the moment Parham’s next stop going forward is up in the air, but with complications surrounding COVID-19 and players getting recruited, the process is a little slower. Parham remains optimistic as he has talked to coaches with the hopes of coming across the right situation.

“I’m still talking to coaches, getting phone calls, and interest. It’s just a matter of which coach is going to offer me a full scholarship,” Parham stated. “It’s pretty stressful honestly, especially being a sophomore you have to go somewhere. You know you’re just waiting, and being an athlete when it comes to coaches, they come and go. They want specific [players] on their team, and it’s just a draw of a card when it comes to offering a scholarship, especially at the point guard position.”

Who knows how long it will take until the eager point guard gets the right offer he is seeking? But when it happens, Parham is ready to step on the court, and continue to work.