June 21, 2023
The Villages Charter School Basketball Sophomore Chris Washington Jr. Getting Division 1 College Offers!
By Kyle Coppola
The Villages Charter School Basketball Sophomore Chris Washington Jr. Getting Division 1 College Offers!
As soon as this kid hit the floor his Freshman year and laid down a dunk, everyone knew he was destined for greatness. Chris Washington Jr. is a 6”10 Sophomore who plays for The Villages Charter School. Washington Jr. helped the team get to the State Championship game last year. Doing that his Freshman year opened up a lot of eyes and the Sophomore has been putting in plenty of work this off-season.
In fact Washington Jr. is being offered scholarship opportunities left and right. It started with Behune-Cookman. Then Stetson and now Florida State has offered him a scholarship. Washington Jr. has not even started his Sophomore year of high school yet and already has some great offers on the plate. Those offers will only continue to rise as Washington Jr. continues to mature and grow into his body.
(Chris Washington Jr. continues to impress college scouts weekly. He is only a Sophomore and already has offers from multiple Division 1 Colleges including Florida State, Bethune-Cookman and Stetson.)
Washington Jr. played in 30 games his Freshman year and averaged 10.7 points per game. That was good for 2nd most on the team behind Sam Walters who led the team and is headed to play for The University of Alabama next season. For Chris Washington Jr. his stock will continue to rise.
Each and every time he goes to a summer camp he is turning heads. As soon as coaches see him they are amazed that he is only a Sophomore. Wait until another 3 years go by and he could be in the conversation as the best player ever to come through The Villages Charter Program. The program has had kids like Tre Mann who plays with the Oklahoma City Thunder and Sam Walters who is playing for Alabama. Isaiah Jackson also came through the program and played for Providence in Rhode Island and professionally overseas.
(Chris Washington Jr. goes in for his first regular season successful dunk attempt against Oak Ridge in 2022. Washington has only played in a few games prior to this in High School.)
Chris Washington Jr. will have plenty to look forward to this year. Coach Colt McDowell has a track record of producing incredible talent. The State Championship was completely unexpected last season for The Villages. Many thought it was a rebuilding year for them but The Villages came out and competed. Although just a Freshman, Washington Jr. soon made his presence known and over the course of the year he improved drastically.
We look forward to continuing to cover this young man’s career. As his career progresses Washington Jr. will likely be able to choose any school he wants to come his Senior year. For now Washington Jr. will continue to hone his skills during summer ball. The season will start in Late October into November.
Photos Provided By:
VHS Basketball
Kyle Coppola was born in Newton, Massachusetts and received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Communications from Curry College in 2016. After traveling to Florida on a family vacation, he decided he could not get enough of the warm weather and made the move from snowy Massachusetts to central Florida 8 years ago.
For the last decade Kyle has gained valuable experience in social media content creation, marketing and sales, writing, video production, sports announcing and even broadcasting for local radio stations, such as FM 102.9 in The Villages and FM 91.5 in Massachusetts. Every year he volunteers at The Villages Charter High School as a play-by-play sports announcer for the football games as well as a public address announcer for the basketball games, including the annual Battle at The Villages Tournament.
Outside the office Kyle is a husband and father to two beautiful girls along with their cat. In his spare time he likes to spend time with his family, travel, play golf and swim. He is also a huge sports junkie and even bigger motorsports fan and loves to attend racing events when he can.
