Jamie Newman finds himself in the unique position of coaching his son, Julian, on his varsity basketball team. While the father-son duo is as old as sports itself, what makes the Newmans unique is that Julian is just 11 years old.
The 4-foot-5 fifth grader is the starting point guard for the varsity basketball team at Downey Christian (Orlando), a small independent school that operates outside the jurisdiction of the Florida High School Athletics Association, per MaxPreps. As shown in the video above, Julian isn't afraid to take on players much bigger and older than he, and he's got the stats to back him up. In three starts this year, Julian is averaging 12.4 points, 11 assists, and 4.3 steals per game.
"He has a tremendous skill level," Julian's father told MaxPreps. "He has moves that even NBA players don't have. He does stuff that hasn't been done before with the ball."
Julian's highlight reel is making its way around Twitter and most are understandably impressed.
As stated above, the FHSAA doesn't govern schools like Downey Christian, so Julian is free to play for them. In fact, SportsGrid points out that Julian isn't even jeopardizing his future eligibility to play for a high school team that does fall under FHSAA rules, which state: "A student’s four-year limit of high school eligibility is not affected by the student’s participation in interscholastic athletics before beginning the ninth grade for the first time."
It's been a breakout year for junior high athletes in high school sports. Back in August, Andrew Robison, a 5-foot-1 sixth-grader, became the youngest quarterback ever to throw a touchdown in a varsity football game.
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