by Alex Schwartz

While looking at a few different recruiting websites this evening, I came across an article on recruit recon that caught my eye. The site had a little blurb on Towson signee Will Adams '09 of Imhotep Charter (PA), the PIAA Class AA state champions and number one ranked team in PA by Northstar Basketball, in which it said the star shooting guard was dealing with Hodgkin's lymphoma, a form of cancer. There was also a link to an article in the Philadelphia Inquirer that had more information on the situation. According to that article, Adams "has been in the hospital for the last three weeks." There is also an encouraging quote in there from Andre Noble, the head coach at Imhotep: "'We think he is going to be fine.'" Adams had been expected to be a part of a major recruiting haul for Pat Kennedy, in a class that included players such as Isaiah Philmore and Erique Gumbs, both of whom had high-major offers. The article states, though, that "Adams' scholarship was deferred until the fall of 2010." The piece also tells how Will's sickness came to light, "Adams was ill throughout the season, suffering from weight loss and weakness, Noble said. During the postseason, Adams was no longer able to compete in the starting lineup, and he did not participate in pregame activities. At the time, doctors were unsure of what Adams was suffering from.Three weeks ago, after feeling ill, Adams went to a clinic. While there, he was rushed to the hospital, and the cancer was diagnosed a week later." I have personally interviewed Adams both in person and via text message, and he is one of the nicest high school basketball players that I've come across while in the industry. This is certainly unfortunate news, and Northstar Basketball would like to wish Will Adams, 18, all the best as he fights to overcome this illness.

In addition to being a basketball fan, I also enjoy soccer and am member on TopDrawerSoccer.com, which is similar to Scout in many ways, and there was an article on the site this week that I found quite interesting. Soccer stars Amber Brooks (North Carolina) and Heidi Sabatura (Villanova), seniors at The Pennington School (NJ)—the team was ranked number one in the US this year by ESPN Rise and NSCAA/adidas—are running a 3 on 3 soccer tournament called Score for the Cure to benefit pancreatic cancer research, in honor of Charlotte Moran, a key figure in Region I youth soccer (think of maybe a Howard Garfinkel-esque person, had he dealt more with AAU ball than camps and not made a profit). Moran unfortunately passed away from cancer in the early morning on May 18th, which makes Brooks and Sabatura's event that much more meaningful. Upon reading about Will Adams' battle another form of cancer, I decided to post something about how you can help out with this 3 on 3 event and support pancreatic cancer research. Check out the actual article on TopDrawerSoccer.com for more information, such as how you can register or on how to purchase a bracelet. All money will go to the Lustgarten Foundation for Pancreatic Cancer Research. You can also email scoreforthecure@yahoo.com for more details.

Note- photo and all quotes are from http://www.philly.com/inquirer/