Chase Tapley remembers the first Sacramento High School varsity basketball practice of his freshman year.

"I was in shock," said Tapley, now a senior and one of Northern California's top players. "The coaches were yelling all the time, and the guys were big and fast and everyone was going after each other's heads."

Tapley wondered if he would be better suited for the junior varsity team, the group he had worked out with during the summer before entering the Oak Park charter school.

But it didn't take long for Tapley to find his comfort zone and reinforce coach Derek Swafford's decision that the ninth grader was another excellent candidate for his on-the-job training program.

The trend of playing underclassmen is something Swafford embraced early at Sac High, and a number of other top programs have since emulated.

Rocklin stars Brendan Lane, a UCLA recruit, and point guard Jackson Cummings played varsity as freshmen. Folsom won a Sac-Joaquin Section Division I championship last season with freshman all-leaguer Kori Babineaux playing a key role.

Sheldon's Darius Nelson – younger brother of DeMarcus – was All-Delta River League and his team's leading scorer last season as a ninth grader. Teammate Marcus Jackson is a four-year varsity starter.

"It's just a philosophy that helps keep your program in balance," Swafford said. "You have to be willing to live with mistakes because freshmen and sophomores are going to make them.

"But if they are good enough, they gain experience by playing against stronger players – and people will tell you that our practices are a lot harder than the games – which only makes them that much more polished when they are juniors and seniors."

Swafford's decision to play youngsters developed more out of necessity when he started at Sac High in 2000.

Swafford, who takes a hard-line approach on grades, discipline and fundamentals, booted four senior starters off the team.

"I told my staff we have nothing to lose," Swafford said. "We wound up starting four sophomores. We won only nine games our first season, but we've been in the playoffs ever since."

Sac High has since won a Northern California championship and two section titles and has three runner-up section finishes.

The Bee's No. 1 ranked team last season after playing in the California Interscholastic Federation Division III state championship game, the Dragons open 2008-09 as The Bee's top-ranked boys team.

Kevin Galloway, now at Kentucky, became Swafford's first contributing freshman. Tapley, junior Travon Abraham and sophomore Robert Garrett are the others who played for Swafford as ninth graders. A transfer to Sac High, sophomore Josiah Turner, was the starting point guard last season for Cordova.

Although Tapley seriously debated about staying on the varsity his first few days of practice in 2005, it didn't take long for him to realize he was at the right level.

Days before the Dragons' first game of the season, Tapley found himself on Galloway's team for an intrasquad game.

"I scored 20 points, and we won," he said. "That's when I knew I could play."

Ultimately, Tapley realized he was going to learn more as a varsity role player than a JV star. He played in all 35 games, averaged 5.3 points and was second on the team in steals.

"I learned so much, especially from Kevin," said Tapley, The Bee's Player of the Year last season who will play for San Diego State next season. "He was one of the best players in the state, and he'd come to practice and work hard. He'd never take a play off. There was no attitude."

Swafford said that whatever Galloway would do, Tapley would try to match, something the younger players are now trying to do in practice against Tapley.

"If Galloway got a dunk, Chase was going to get a dunk," Swafford said. "The practices between the two were brutal. They wouldn't smile until practice was done."

Tapley said Galloway was an excellent mentor, even when knocking the snot out of him in practice.

"He was positive with me," Tapley said. "If I made a mistake, he'd tell me to shake if off."

As did Tapley, Abraham found playing as a freshman rewarding and challenging.

"It was frustrating at times because I was playing behind a senior point guard (Cervante Burrell)," Abraham said. "And as a freshman, I made a lot of mistakes. Some games I'd play a lot, and some games I wouldn't play at all."

At 5-foot-5 and 130 pounds – he's now 5-9, 170 – Abraham said he took a physical pounding. But that helped him develop toughness – and humility.

"I think if I would have been on the JV team, I would have been jacking up shots all the time and would have been a very selfish player," Abraham said. "Instead it gave me a sense of how to be unselfish, how to be just a role player."

Now Abraham, one of the team's leaders, has taken to mentoring Garrett, the team's tallest player at 6-10 who spot played for the Dragons last season.

"With Robert you have to encourage him," Abraham said. "He gets down on himself easy. So being a leader, I try to keep it positive with him. It's our job to make sure the younger guys don't get left behind or feel lost."

Although there are no freshmen on this year's varsity roster, Swafford said he has a couple of very capable ninth graders on the junior varsity who could get the call anytime this season.

"Playing the young guys has been the cornerstone of our existence and will continue to be," Swafford said.

Call The Bee's Bill Paterson, (916) 326-5506.