Outside of all of the players who play on major sneaker circuit teams, there are those who are killing for non sneaker circuit AAU teams. One of theses players is Luke Traina a 6-5 wing from Germantown Academy in Pennsylvania, that decision is still up in the air. Traina is one of many juniors who has earned tons of interest from Division 1 schools but after a strong performance during the Pitt Jam fest with CT Elite.
Luke hails from Doylestown, Pennsylvania which is located 45 minutes outside of Philadelphia. When it comes to hoops culture, Traina believes Doylestown has the same energy and dedication as the city of brotherly love. “In my hometown basketball is huge. Just being 45 minutes outside from one of the biggest basketball cities in the world, we eat, sleep, and breathe basketball around here. If you don’t play basketball you sure do watch basketball. There’s always a great fan base at our games whether it’s the students that attend our games, or our extensive alumni network. People love coming out to our games. My head coach just retired after 30 years and he has turned our program to an elite program.”
Basketball is something that runs very deep and as Traina describes it has helped many people in his family reach great places. “My Grandfather played basketball at Santa Clara and then moved on to become president of Clark University in Massachusetts from 1984-2000.” Luke’s Dad Michael played at Brown University and then went on to become a CEO of several companies. The pedigree has been passed down to the young Luke who is looking to carry the the Traina tradition.
Like many athletes there are many circumstances that they face daily while trying to accomplish their goals for Luke it’s helping his mother raise his siblings since his dad had a stroke six year’s ago. The stroke left his father extremely disabled. Seeing his dad fall victim to a stroke encouraged him to go even harder on and off the court every single day. His workout and pregame regimen says it all. “My pregame routine starts off with some prayer first, whether it’s with my coaches and teammates or alone. I ask the lord to watch over both teams and hope we have a healthy competition. Following this I do some static stretching, right into form shooting and then the Mikan drill. From there I work on some corner threes, cuts to the basketball, out of horns set then get into some transition layups along with some other things”. Traina averaged 13 points, six rebounds and 4 assists per game this past season.
With the next level on his mind, Luke has many attributes he wants to work on. “I think for the next level I have to put some weight on, I’m at 6-5 185 and currently growing, hopefully I can put on 10-15 pounds before my freshman hoops season. I’m going to continue to work on my ball handling as well as shoot 350 threes per day to ensure that I can play shooting guard at the next level.
With a great work ethic Luke Traina is one player who can make any coach happy on the next level. Schools such as Virginia, Elon, Murray State, Boston College and others have shown interest.
Highlights courtesy of Jay Doe Films
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