For about as long as he can remember, Nathan Mattix has been the tallest kid in class. Not just one of the tallest kids - the tallest.
"It was my special thing," Mattix said in a phone interview. "I was always the tallest kid, and I liked it. Except for this one year - there was this one girl who was taller than me, and I resented her."
All kidding aside, Mattix said he measured in at 5-foot-8 when he was in fifth grade and had grown to 6-4 by the time he was a freshman at Squalicum High School. The Storm boys' basketball roster now lists him as a 6-6 senior center as it prepares to face Lindbergh in the regional round of the Class 2A State Tournament at 8 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 24, at Stanwood High School.
Though Mattix has always enjoyed being tall, he didn't necessary appreciate the stereotypes that came along with towering over his classmates - such as the one that said he should play basketball.
"Everybody expects because you are tall that you will play basketball," Mattix said. "I was told that was what I was supposed to do."
Anybody who heard Mattix sing the National Anthem before Squalicum's Feb. 6 regular-season home finale against Sehome knows that he has a whole lot more going for him than just basketball. In addition to being an outstanding student, Mattix sings for the Squalicum choir - even making a difficult change from bass to baritone this year because the choir was a little too bass heavy.
"I've always said that Nathan is a remarkable young man," Squalicum coach Dave Dickson said in a phone interview. "He could succeed in a number of different ways. Some kids cling to basketball, and that's all they have, but Nathan is very talented in a number of different areas. He's going to be successful in whatever area he decides to devote his energies to."
Because people told him basketball should be that area, he said he didn't have a whole lot of passion for the game during the early portions of his career.
Combine that with Mattix battling to control a man-sized body that he called "awkward and clumsy," and it's no wonder it took him a while to develop his first few years at Squalicum.
"You watched him (when Mattix was a freshman) and he wasn't very smooth," Dickson said. "You saw a big frame and you saw a guy who wasn't a complete player by any stretch of the imagination. When you would watch Nathan do a full-court passing drill when he was younger, it would just make you cringe."
It's not the first time Dickson said he could remember seeing a big man struggle early in his high school playing career.
"I remember watching Monte Walton's Sehome C-squad years ago," Dickson said. "He had a tall, gangly kid named (Mark) Spink who was the 13th man and not one of the top players. The inexperienced person might ask why is that boy taking up a spot on the bench? Three years later he was a senior, he was the dominant force in the paint and earned a scholarship to Gonzaga (where he earned West Coast Conference Defensive Player of the Year honors in 2001)."
While Mattix hasn't seen a meteoric rise of that kind, he has developed into a force for the Storm during his senior season, averaging 7.0 points in 22 games this season along with about five rebounds per game and is shooting 69 percent from the floor.
Even though his impact on the court has grown faster than even he has, Mattix said the biggest adjustment he's made is a change in attitude.
"It's been really cool, because basketball is an amazing thing to be passionate about," Mattix said. "I used to dislike it because it was what I was expected to do. I really wasn't interested at first. But the past couple of years, I've realized I love playing on a team and I love the camaraderie and competing."
Mattix said it was after his sophomore season that his interest in basketball and improving his play began to pique. He started to see "what I could be if I put some sweat in the bucket."
He started spending more time in the weight room to add strength to his big body and more and more time on the court working on the fundamental skills he needed to develop as a post.
"I'm like anyone - I want to do things that I'm good at," Mattix said. "When I started to see that a little bit in basketball, I got into it more."
Mattix began to show improvement as a junior, and even got a few starts because of injuries to other players, but when they returned he struggled with moving back to the bench.
"Mentally, I had problems adjusting to the new role," Mattix said. "It was difficult for me to come in cold. That was frustrating. I was annoyed, but I said, 'You know, I have one more year left, and I'm going to make the most of it.' I learned from all that frustration and put all that into practice and working my butt off to help my team get better and improve my own game."
The improvement this year has definitely shown.
He scored a season-high 20 points in a Feb. 2 game against Anacortes and has scored in double figures five times and led the team in scoring twice, as he used his improved strength to post up and get behind the opposing defense for easy buckets and battle for rebounds.
He's also given the Storm some much needed balance, providing them another option on nights their smaller guard get shut down.
"He's become a more complete player," Dickson said. "The rest of the guys trust him now. When he was younger, when they passed it to him they didn't know if he was going to catch it, and if he did if he was going to be able to convert. Now there's trust there."
Mattix has been playing with most of the rest of Squalicum's starting five for years now - some as far back as when they were in third grade.
"It's really just been growing confidence in me by taking chances on me," Mattix said. "At times, I've proved that their confidence is well founded, and our confidence as a whole has grown. It's kind of a symbiotic relationship. They now know that I'm going to score if it's the right thing to do or I'll pass it back if it's not."
Mattix is not the only high school big man that has taken time to develop the necessary on-court skills to warrant that kind of confidence.
In fact, big men always seem to take a bit more time to develop, Dickson said.
"There is an emphasis in our society on the little guys," Dickson said. "You watch little league basketball, and invariably, the stars are the guards. It's always been that way in America for little kids. They're the ones that get to handle the ball. It rarely becomes a big man's game until the boys are men.
"If you contrast American basketball with foreign basketball, and in particular European basketball, the 6-8, 6-10 kids that can play are expected to shoot the 3 and put the ball on the floor. Traditionally in America, they're not. It's just, 'Get down there and rebound for the guards and occasionally throw the big guy a bone in there.' It's interesting how different the European style is and how it's starting to influence the American game, now."
But Dickson said he's not expecting to see Mattix to start shooting the 3 over the next two weeks.
"He's way better shooting from outside than he was," Dickson said. "But the green light may have to wait for his greyshirt year. Plus, he's got a whole lot bigger fish to fry than high school basketball. He's a young man that's going to look back on his times with us and hopefully have some fond memories, because his best is yet to come."
Reach David Rasbach at david.rasbach@bellinghamherald.com or 360-715-2271.
BOYS' REGIONAL ROUND GAMES
All boys' games in the regional round of the state tournaments are scheduled for Friday, Feb. 24. Winners move on to state quarterfinals on March 1 at Yakima (2A and 1A) or Spokane (1B):
CLASS 2A
? Squalicum vs. Lindbergh: 8 p.m. at Stanwood
? Lynden vs. Sumner: 8 p.m. at Mount Tahoma
CLASS 1A
? Lynden Christian vs. Onalaska: 8 p.m. at Glacier Peak
CLASS 1B
? Lummi vs. King's Way Christian: 6 p.m. at Mountlake Terrace
2011-12 SQUALICUM ROSTER
No. Player Yr. Ht. Pos. G Pts. Avg.
10. Joe Butenschoen Jr. 6-3 G 1 2 2.0
14. Luke Weber So. 6-1 F 9 3 0.3
15. Shane Jansen Sr. 5-8 G 16 30 1.9
20. Blake Harmon Jr. 6-1 G 11 18 1.6
22. Zerek Csolti Sr. 6-3 G 23 251 10.9
25. Joseph Chunphakvenn Sr. 5-8 G 23 338 14.7
32. Chris Qualls Sr. 6-4 F 23 314 13.7
33. Blake Youtsey So. 6-3 F 23 127 5.5
35. Neilan Pierce Sr. 5-11 F 23 217 9.4
42. Alex Yuska Jr. 6-4 C 21 26 1.2
43. Bryce Dickerson Sr. 5-10 G 16 67 4.2
50. Danny Weber So. 6-1 F 1 2 2.0
55. Nathan Mattix Sr. 6-6 C 22 154 7.0
2011-12 SQUALICUM SCHEDULE
Dec. 1 Mount Baker W 85-57
Dec. 3 Grandview (at Yakima) W 52-42
Dec. 6 Bellingham W 74-38
Dec. 13 at Sehome W 71-66
Dec. 15 Lynden Christian* W 62-31
Dec. 20 Burlington-Edison* W 87-62
Dec. 28 Enumclaw (at Kennedy) W 65-54
Dec. 29 at Kennedy Catholic W 64-60
Dec. 30 Wilson (at Kennedy Catholic) W 54-41
Jan. 3 at Sedro-Woolley* W 81-59
Jan. 6 at Bellingham* L 51-50
Jan. 9 Nooksack Valley* W 88-41
Jan. 13 at Ferndale* L 67-53
Jan. 24 Mount Vernon* W 84-52
Jan. 25 Lynden* W 64-60, OT
Jan. 27 at Mount Baker* W 76-73, 2OT
Jan. 30 at Blaine* W 63-49
Feb. 1 at Meridian* W 61-40
Feb. 2 Anacortes* L 61-59
Feb. 6 Sehome* W 76-44
CLASS 2A NORTHWEST DISTRICT TOURNAMENT
Feb. 11 at Granite Falls W 68-42
Feb. 14 Lynden (at Mount Vernon) W 51-43
Feb. 18 Cedarcrest (at Mount Vernon) W 63-59
CLASS 2A STATE TOURNAMENT
Feb. 24 Lindbergh (at Stanwood) 8 p.m.
