Penn Charter’s Kai Shinholster announces himself to city basketball

Confused why the movie’s protagonist, Neo, stood his ground instead of fleeing as the villain closed in on his location, one character asked, “What’s he doing?”

The response, “He’s beginning to believe,” marked a turning point in the classic 1999 film The Matrix and spelled doom for his adversaries.

Penn Charter sophomore Kai Shinholster certainly doesn’t fancy himself as The One, but his burgeoning confidence coupled with his skills on the basketball court likely have him moving up college coaches’ wish lists.

The Quakers are undefeated (7-0) and last week, Shinholster turned heads after back-to-back quality performances.

On Friday, he finished with 16 points at Friends’ Central. On Saturday against Archbishop Wood — in a game featuring at least four Division I players — Shinholster scored a game-high 28 points in a come-from-behind overtime victory.

“I’m getting recognition from [college] coaches already,” Shinholster said this week inside an office on Penn Charter’s East Falls campus, “but I really want it to skyrocket.”

For Shinholster, 16, it seems his close-knit family, supportive teammates, and trusted coaches are the village tasked with helping the budding standout navigate what can be a ruthless recruiting process and grow the confidence that once eluded him.

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Now a 6-foot-4 wing with a smooth shooting stroke and the ability to score in bunches, Shinholster was once just a spot-up shooting freshman, passively waiting on the perimeter for teammates to create shots for him.

His putback dunk just before halftime of last week’s 65-62 victory at Friends’ Central, underscored a new, more aggressive player.

“I always knew I had the skill,” he said, “but it took me a long time, even in middle school, to get the confidence to take tough shots.”

Growing up in Swedesboro, N.J., where his family still resides, Shinholster says he always played against older competition.

He was young for his age group, so at times he felt like a seventh grader who should have been in sixth grade but was playing against eighth graders. As a result, he sometimes found contentment in the background.

Driveway battles against his older brother, Trey, a senior forward at Penn Charter, honed his skills at home, but they didn’t travel elsewhere.

“He used to have confidence playing against me,” Trey Shinholster said, “but when he got on the court, he would be a little hesitant.”

A growth spurt during the pandemic started to change things.

Shinholster was about 5-foot-8 when COVID-19 first shut down the country. The next school year, he was a 6-3 freshman who played well in practice but still didn’t bring the same panache to games.

“I would turn down shots because I didn’t have the confidence,” he said. “I would leave games with maybe three or four shots the entire game, and that wasn’t good enough for the player that I wanted to be.”

Last year, Shinholster, who just turned 16 in October, reclassified and repeated his freshman year. The move, he believes, helped him mature.

He was a starter on last year’s team that shared the Inter-Ac title with Malvern Prep.

“Some might say I wasn’t as confident as I am now,” he said, “but I was taking shots that I wouldn’t have thought about my first freshman year. It was definitely a benefit to re-class that year.”

Coming into this season, confidence became the main question.

Penn Charter coach Dave Bass, who took over after the Quakers’ former coach, John Owens, joined the women’s coaching staff as an assistant at UMass Lowell in November, knew what he had in Shinholster.

The question was, how to coax it out.

“Before the Wood game, I told him, ‘I need you to be more assertive, more aggressive, more willing to take shots earlier,’” Bass said.

The first-year coach had noticed that Shinholster scored mostly late in games, deferring early to seniors.

The leader of the team, Mark Butler, is a 6-foot point guard who committed to Lafayette in October. Butler is one of several seniors the younger Shinholster has admired since middle school.

As a result, taking a backseat can come naturally.

It’s something Chris Harris, an AAU coach with K-Low Elite, has also harped on.

“He was playing with really good players,” Harris said in a phone interview. “Early last summer, he would defer to those guys. But as July came around, he got more aggressive.”

Harris added: “I told him, ‘It’s time to let the city know that you’re here.’”

Shinholster’s first scholarship offer came from Hofstra. Robert Morris made an offer next, followed by the University of Texas at El Paso. An upswing in confidence wasn’t far behind.

“When he’s confident, he’s more aggressive,” said his father, Rick Shinholster. “When he’s confident, it also looks like he’s having lots of fun.”

Against Wood last week, Shinholster hit a late three-pointer that put the Vikings away for good.

Immediately after, he released a guttural scream, pumped both fists, and celebrated with his teammates.

Early in that game, he was stripped of the ball while trying to score. It was the kind of play, he said, that would have rattled his confidence in the past.

“I remember thinking for a moment, ‘Let’s just sit in the corner.’ But then I realized, ‘No, I’m a good player. I can do this, so I’ve got to keep going,’” Shinholster said.

Rick Shinholster, 54, was born and raised in Philadelphia, graduated from Central High School in 1986, and played for legendary college coach Herb Magee at Jefferson University when it was known as Philadelphia Textile.

He also coaches youth basketball and has been plugged into that world for decades. He also abides zero foolishness when it comes to his children.

After last week’s exploits, he said his son garnered some unwelcome online attention.

“All of a sudden, adults were sending him messages on Instagram,” he said via phone, “talking to him as if they knew him.”

He also said a few high school coaches called, inquiring if his son was interested in transferring. He isn’t, Rick Shinholster said.

“I think with Kai getting all this hoopla,” he said, “we’re just going to continue to support him, and he trusts us that we’re going to steer him in the right direction, and keep the vultures away.”

In fact, before his son was interviewed by The Inquirer, Rick Shinholster said his wife, Katie, had Googled the reporter, found his photo online, and looked for any other information she could. Then they called Bass to find out more.

Both have instructed their son to let them know when any adult contacts him. “Because I don’t want the wrong person to talk to Kai or to get in his ear and start feeding him nonsense,” Rick Shinholster said. “That’s our due diligence as parents.”

College coaches, high school coaches looking to poach players, and the possibility of Name, Image and Likeness deals cause the protective father pause.

It’s still unclear what level of college basketball program will seek his son.

Before K-Low Elite, Harris, who is from Queens, N.Y., and coached AAU basketball on the Nike Elite Youth Basketball circuit, saw current NBA star Devin Booker play in high school. Harris sees similarities between Booker and Shinholster when Booker was in high school.

Trey also believes his younger brother isn’t finished growing. Growing taller could attract even more colleges. Harris, 32, says Shinholster could eventually garner interest and offers from Power 5 schools.

“But I think for Kai,” said Harris, who is also the assistant athletic director at Cristo Rey High School, “it doesn’t matter what level. It’ll be about fit. We place so much emphasis on level when it’s all about fit.”

Shinholster’s father agrees.

“Education is first in my house,” he said. “Education is first; we just so happen to play basketball.”

His oldest son has various academic options for college and hopes basketball opportunities will also arise. His youngest is focused on remaining confident, having fun, and keeping a positive outlook.

On Tuesday night, the Quakers outlasted La Salle, 41-34. The Explorers’ methodical pace stifled Penn Charter’s typical up-tempo offense. Shinholster finished with eight points. He also missed a dunk in traffic in the second half. He wasn’t discouraged by the miss. Neither was his father.

“That’s the first time he’s ever tried that,” Rick Shinholster said. “That means his confidence is really up there where he feels like he can do anything and everything, which is great.”

Occasionally, his son’s inner monologue reinforces what they feel is important to his success.

“I find myself saying, ‘We’ve worked for this,’” Shinholster said. “I’ve put in the work to get where I’m at today, so it’s not like I’m unprepared. ‘We’ve worked for this.’ That’s something my dad says to me. ‘We’ve worked for this.’

“And if I don’t say it to myself,” Shinholster continued, “I can hear my dad yelling it from the stands.”