By Terry Mosher

Editor, Sports Paper

Whether the South Kitsap basketball team has success this winter does not depend on any one guy having a productive year, but things could really pick up for coach John Callaghan’s Wolves if their inside guy comes through.

That would be Frank “Joey” Osinski III, a 6-foot-6 center who halfway through last season moved into a starting role for the Wolves.

“If he has a good year, I think we will be OK,” says Callaghan, whose teams always seem to be at least in the mix for a playoff spot. “He just keeps getting better and better. He’s a pretty hard worker.”

Osinski has been honing his game through the Total Package Hoops program directed by Craig Murray since his sophomore season. The extra work with Total Package has paid dividends.

“My game is completely changed,” says Osinski. “I used to be primarily a post player. I had mediocre footwork, wasn’t a very good ball handler. But after working with Total Package, I can dribble the ball, I can shoot it, can post up, can go out to the key, and pretty much can do everything except be the point guard.”

Murray believes Osinski will really help the Wolves, mainly because he’s a big guy who runs the floor well, rebounds the ball well, and can score around the basket quite well.

“He’s pretty athletic,” says Murray. “I think just now he’s recognizing the potential he has. He can jump pretty well, has a good, strong body, and he can get up and down the floor.”

It hasn’t been an easy transition for Osinski. The level of competition Total Package runs into in big out-of-state tournaments can be quite intimidating for a player not used to guys leaping over him and swatting the ball away. But Osinski has adjusted and competes well.

“Let’s put it this way,” says Murray. “For the league (South) plays in, he’s mobile enough, athletic enough to make a difference at that level. When we travel and the teams we play against, 6-foot-6 is a wing guy. Now he’s playing center against guys who are 6-8, 6-9, 6-10 and it makes it very difficult. He’s trying to use his post moves against those guys and he can’t at that level.

“He’s going to be a good player for South as long as he sticks to playing solid defense and rebounding the basketball.”

Osinski didn’t play on the varsity at Sedgwick Junior High until his freshman season. He was on the junior varsity the previous two years.

Before he got to Sedgwick, Osinski kept very busy playing four sports – baseball, soccer, wrestling and basketball.

“I was constantly playing sports as a kid,” says Osinski, son of Frank Osinski Jr., a Seattle policeman.

When he got to junior high, he realized his strength was in basketball because of his height so that is the sport he has settled on.

It has been a good choice because Osinski is developing into a threat inside for a SK team that has several other talented players, including Isaiah Davis, who will man the point, and Leon La Deaux, who is the main wing guy. Nars Martinez, half-brother to former SK star Jacob Beitinger, who went on to play for Eastern Washington and Central Washington, is another player who could play some wing and take pressure off Osinski inside.

Osinski, a 2.8 grade-point average student, would like to continue playing basketball in college. He has gotten some interest from a school in Minnesota and another in California, but the recruiting process for him is still on going and depends on how well he does this season.

“He’s got a few schools interested in him,” says Murray. “I think the University of Redlands (California) has asked about him.”

Whatever school gets him will have a player who wants to be the best he can be and will work hard to get there.