Every team sport has that one position that makes the whole team succeed. It’s where everything starts, and it’s the position that the entire team evolves around. It’s the position that serves as another set of eyes and ears for the coach, and really, acts as an on-the-field coach by extension. In football, it’s the quarterback, and in baseball, it’s the catcher. In basketball, it’s of course the point guard. The floor general. The one player who sets up a team’s half court offense and guards the backcourt on defense. A great point guard is also the best dribbler and passer on the team. Bottom line, it’s a ton of responsibility for a basketball player, and at Valdosta High School, Denver Arnold has embraced it.
Some players are natural-born point guards, while others have to learn and grow into the position. The latter best describes Arnold, the Lady Wildcats’ senior point guard, and she admits as much.
“I’m really not a true point guard,” Arnold says. “I’m more of a shooting guard.”
However, when her coach approached Arnold before the start of last season about moving to the point, she was eager to do whatever it took to help the Valdosta basketball team. That would mean getting better in several areas.
“I had to step up and become our point guard as a junior, and that meant me becoming a better overall player,” Arnold says.
Arnold didn’t have to look too far for help. In addition to Valdosta head girls basketball coach E.A. Wilcox, Denver can look for help from her dad, Highland Christian head basketball coach Randy Arnold. She says her father has helped her become a better player, which in turn helped her learn to play point guard.
“My dad has been my biggest influence, and he put a lot on me so that I could continue to improve and get better as a player and as a point guard,” says Denver, whose mother is Diondra Arnold, a teacher at Valdosta High.
Wilcox says he has watched Arnold grow up playing basketball and has come to appreciate the improvement she has made.
“I remember seeing her play for the first time in the fifth or sixth grade, and it is amazing to see how far she has come and how much improvement she has made in her game,” Wilcox says.
He adds that it helps that she is a very coachable player.
“Denver has really responded to my instruction to become a better all-around basketball player and help us as a team get to the level of winning that we wanted to get to,” the longtime Valdosta coach says.
Wilcox says when former point guard Ahnye Wilkins graduated and went on to play with Andrew College, he needed a point guard and he really wanted Arnold to take on the role, even if it was not her natural position.
“I knew it would take her working on her ball handling skills, passing skills, shooting skills, but I knew the biggest thing she would need to work on was her defense,” Wilcox recalls. “I challenged her to become a tougher defender, and she has responded. She has improved tremendously over these last two seasons.”
The ’Cats coach says Arnold’s dad being a coach helped, and she also attended offseason camps.
“She has attended some of the offseason training camps like Clutch Performance, and it’s all helped her development tremendously,” he says.
One look at Arnold’s stats over her high school career tells the story of her improvement: As a sophomore, she averaged 5.4 points, less than 1 assist per game, and 1.4 rebounds in 22 games. Last season, as a junior, and the first year she took on her new role as the team’s point guard, Arnold’s scoring average improved to 9 points per game, and she had 3.2 assists and 2.5 rebounds per game.
On defense, she averaged 2.3 steals per game over the 28 games played. So far, in her team’s first 19 games of 2022-23, Arnold is averaging 14.4 points per game, including a season-high 25 points against Coffee on November 29 in a 50-49 Valdosta win. She also is averaging 3 assists, 2.6 steals, and 2.6 rebounds per game.
Wilcox says Arnold has not stopped learning while continuing to run the Wildcats offense.
“Denver has played the point guard position better in our last few games than she ever has before,” he says.
What does Arnold’s head coach think about his senior guard playing at the next level?
“She will definitely play college basketball,” he says, adding that he has heard from Albany State and Pensacola State about Denver.
And how does Arnold feel about continuing her basketball career after she leaves Valdosta High?
“I am looking to go to a four-year college and get my degree in psychology,” she says.
Arnold says she really likes FSU, but they have not offered her a scholarship yet. She adds that she also likes Jacksonville State and Clayton State.
There is still, however, business to finish in the rest of her career in this city known for its intense passion for high school athletics. Stay tuned.
