Inside Gillion Academy: How a First-Year Prep Basketball Powerhouse Is Being Built Around a Gentle Giant

In the first installment of a new series, a behind-the-scenes look at Northern Virginia’s Gillion Academy and 7-foot Florida State signee Marcis Ponder reveals how an elite prep program — and a future star — are being shaped on and off the court

Marcis Ponder, a 7-footer, is a head-turner on the basketball court and the centerpiece of Gillion Academy, a new Virgina high school powerhouse. / JP Gajardo

This is the first installment of a continuing series on Northern Virginia’s Gillion Academy, which is among the country’s premiere prep basketball teams in its first year of existence.

A New National Power Emerges in Northern Virginia

Slightly crouched on the block while an Archbishop Carroll player shoots first quarter free throws at the Big Bob Classic in Alexandria City, Virginia on Saturday, December 13, Gillion Academy center Marcis Ponder looks out of place. 

Meet Marcis Ponder, the 7-Foot Center Who Can’t Be Ignored

A massive, sculpted 7-footer with tree trunk thighs who’ll be suiting up for the Florida State Seminoles next year, his opponents resemble stick figures in comparison during the lull in game action.

“Gaaaaaaahtdayum!” yells an older lady perched on a baseline folding chair, staring in disbelief at Ponder a few short feet away. “That gotta be Shaquille O’Neal’s baby!”

Carroll’s post players are severely overmatched in height and musculature, concern perpetually etched in their faces whenever Ponder’s in the vicinity . 

But if you know about ballers from the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference (WCAC) in which Carroll competes, you know they’re always down for a squabble. 

So every opportunity to physically interact with him becomes a contretemps, as if they’re forming like Wu-Tang Clan to collectively settle a dispute.  

And to the consternation of Ponder, who’s among the top ranked centers in the Class of 2026, along with anyone who understands what constitutes a foul, the big man is perpetually pushed, elbowed, grabbed, forearm shivered, slapped, pulled and kneed whenever he’s establishing post position or boxing out. 

It’s as if he’s persistently being harassed by a swarm of indignant mosquitoes. 

Ponder’s first basket comes after he corrals an offensive rebound and unleashes a backboard shivering one handed slam. On the ensuing possession, he walls off a double team, catches the post entry pass, spins, and nets a sweet layup off the glass.

Marcis Ponder demonstrates his raw power and athleticism with a slam at last week's City of Palms Classic in Florida. / JP Gajardo

The next time down, he eschews finesse for pure power and throws down a Shaq-esque two-handed monster dunk with defenders bouncing off him like pinballs. 

“Dayumn!” yells the lady in the folding chair, leaning back as her feet inadvertently flare out. Her head swivels with a manufactured, scrunched-up ugly face in an attempt to make eye contact with anyone nearby.

The teams go back and forth with Gillion holding a negligible lead for most of the game. 

Carroll’s wondrous senior point guard Anthony Brown, who’ll certainly dazzle national audiences next year as a freshman at Vanderbilt University, puts on a panache-filled display with crisp passing, playmaking and deep pull-up jumpers en route to his singular 39-point performance that keeps his squad within striking distance. 

The game is close throughout, but Gillion ultimately prevails 75-73. Ponder’s 18 points and 13 rebounds earn him Game MVP honors, despite playing little more than a half.

Life Inside Gillion Academy

A few days later, on Wednesday, December 17, Ponder rises at 6:45am for a breakfast of scrambled eggs, turkey bacon and waffles that has been prepared by assistant coach Jonathan Patrick Gajardo. 

Coach JP, as he’s known, and his wife also serve as House Parents for Ponder and the four other players who’ve transferred in from the state of Florida to launch the Gillion Academy program. The remainder of the roster is composed of players from the DMV area.

In their first year as a national travel team, Gillion is already considered among the top prep programs in the country, suiting up a handful of major Division I college prospects.

By 7:30, Ponder’s inside the academy’s 18,000 square foot space, a former liquor distributor warehouse in an industrial sector of Springfield, Virginia, that houses a spacious weightroom, six basketball courts, classrooms and meeting rooms. 

His day begins with stretching and mobility drills followed by an individual workout with Coach JP that focuses on close-range shooting and fundamental post moves.

An hour later, he’s dressed in Gillion’s school uniform - khaki pants, polo shirt, New Balance kicks - and seated in class reading The Necklace. 

The story’s about a modest French woman in the late 1880’s who’s dissatisfied with her humble existence and borrows a diamond necklace to wear to a posh ball. She promptly loses it and spends the next few years digging herself further into poverty to replace it, only to learn that it was actually a worthless fake.

Ponder’s assignment is to examine the various ironies and symbolisms embedded in the classic tale of pride, fate, vanity and social status. It’s a scenario, especially as it relates to humble beginnings and people taking dead end shortcuts, that he’s already somewhat familiar with.

From Liberty City to the National Stage

Ponder was born and raised with seven siblings in Miami’s poverty-stricken Liberty City neighborhood, in the notorious Scott Homes housing projects. 

“I first met Marcis when he was in the eighth grade,” said Gillion Academy head coach Kenny Gillion, one of the school’s founders along with his brothers and a few others, all of whom are educators with extensive basketball backgrounds. “It’s a rough area and it’s tough to make it out of there.”

Kenny Gillion (left), Gillion Academy head coach and one of the school's founders, is helping Marcis Ponder (standing right) prepare for a bright future in basketball. / Kenny Gillion

“There were some hard times growing up in Liberty City,” said Sean Ponder, Marcis’ older brother by ten months who’s currently a freshman quarterback at Wittenberg University in Ohio. “There was a lot of gang and drug violence. But our mom was a superhero who was always supportive of our dreams and goals.”

“And as a kid, Marcis was always the biggest, and he was hyper,” Sean continued. “He wasn’t bad, he was just all over the place, doing the most. But he was a good person. With all of the negativity that surrounded us, he was always true to himself and followed his own path.”

Like many youth from Liberty City, which has produced gridiron greats like Chad Johnson, Willis McGahee, Antonio Brown, Devonta Freeman and Teddy Bridgewater, among others, Ponder’s first sports dreams centered around NFL stardom.

“Football was the first organized sport I played,” said Ponder. “My brother Sean played quarterback and I was an offensive lineman. But I fell in love when I first started playing basketball around the eighth grade.”

Despite towering over his peers, the transition to the hardwood was far from seamless.

“I was big, but I was a fat boy,” said Ponder.

His coaches and mentors are more succinct.

A Raw Prospect Becomes a Powerhouse

“Marcis was overweight, uncoordinated and unathletic,” said Gillion. “When people would make jokes about his weight or him missing dunks, he was quick to throw some hands. That was his defense mechanism. He didn’t like people making fun of him. But at his essence he was a very loving guy.”

Gajardo has also known Ponder since that eighth grade year when he began coaching him on the Team Breakdown AAU squad in Florida, which was also started by the Gillion brothers. 

“He was massive at about 6-foot-8 and 350 pounds,” said Gajardo. “He was 13, 14 years old and looked like an NFL defensive lineman. He had no athleticism, terrible footwork, little hand-eye coordination and couldn’t walk and chew gum at the same time. He had problems making layups. He was really bad.”

Gajardo and the Gillion brothers saw him as a blank canvas with plenty of room to grow and develop. 

Despite his deficiencies, they played him up against elite level competition almost immediately, knowing he was going to take some lumps. But they believed those early struggles and a steep learning curve would serve him well down the road.

“His first time playing, he was going up against older guys whose motor skills had already developed,” said Gajardo. “He was 13 or 14 playing against 16-year-olds like Derik Queen who were among the top recruits in the country.”

Two areas that he naturally excelled at, though, were work ethic and humility.

“We didn’t know what kind of player he’d develop into, but he kept working hard, stayed at it, never gave up and showed no desire of quitting,” said Gillion. 

On the road at AAU tournaments, Ponder couldn’t afford basketball shoes. The coaches would have to pay for his meals. And while some with his size and ravenous appetite would have been gluttonous in spending other people’s cash, he showed a rare thoughtfulness by always ordering off the value menu. 

“He was always grateful, always respectful,” said Gillion. “Everything with him was ‘Yes sir’ or ‘Yes ma’am.’ Marcis lived with me last year when I was coaching him at West Oaks in Orlando. My wife would cook and no matter what she gave him, he always said the exact same thing - ‘Thank you, I appreciate it.’”

After a year of working with the Gillion brothers and Gajardo, Ponder started to resemble a real prospect as a ninth grader at Miami Norland Senior High School.

“By April of his freshman year, Marcis had shed some weight and was starting to look like an athlete,” said Gillion. “You could see it when he’d catch, turn and dunk in one fluid motion. He enjoyed grabbing rebounds and blocking shots. And he wasn’t just going up to dunk the ball, he was trying to rip the rim down. That’s when we were like, ‘Hey, this kid has a chance.’”

Overtime Elite, Setbacks, and a Reset

As a tenth grader, Ponder was extended an offer to join the Overtime Elite program in Atlanta which boasts recent NBA alums such as the Thompson Twins - Amen and Auser, Rob Dillingham and Alex Sarr. 

But he tore a calf muscle early on, didn’t play much, was homesick and gained weight. When he returned to Florida that March, he weighed 320 pounds.

He then transferred to West Oaks Academy, a nationally ranked program where Gillion was the head coach with Gajardo serving as one of his assistants.

“Some people saw his Overtime Elite experience as a failure, saying that he wasn’t good enough to play at the highest level,” said Gillion. “But we’d been with him from the earliest days of his development and knew what he was capable of. He started to take his diet and conditioning seriously and by June he was down to 290. When his junior season tipped off, he was one of the best big men in the country.”

Although Gillion had known Ponder for a few years, he saw an entirely new side of him when he moved in with his family last year. The head coach would often find his young protégé in his room listening to soothing music, surrounded by lit candles while jotting down thoughts in a journal.

Lounging around the living room, Ponder was unafraid to be vulnerable with Gillion and his wife about his social anxieties around girls and how much he missed his mother and family.

“He could express his feelings without reservation,” said Gillion. “At his apartment in Miami, he didn’t have his own room, his own quiet space where he could just relax. I’d knock on his door and he’d be in there listening to some smooth old school R&B, like Randy Crawford’s Cigarette in the Rain. He’s basically a soft-spoken homebody who has no desire to go out and party. That aggressive, ferocious kid you see on the court? He’s the complete opposite at home.”

Gillion was also surprised at his interest in the culinary arts and how he’d spend time experimenting with the pots and pans in the kitchen.

“I want to become a chef eventually and study nutrition science in college,” said Ponder. “I’m gonna be cooking up some marvelous dishes one day soon.” 

Preparing for a Future Beyond Basketball

Prior to lunch in his narrative writing class, Catherine Keightley, better known as Miss Key, breaks the Gillion Academy players into small groups for a project. 

“So this is the opposite of what we did with our argumentative essays,” Keightley instructs them. “This assignment is about being descriptive and trying to entertain the reader. You want to focus on the setting, the characters, the conflict and the resolution in which the narrator learns a lesson. Think about some of your favorite Rap songs. A lot of them are narrative stories. So I want to see some creative energy in these.”

Keightley knows about creative energy. A hoops fan, she structured a recent lesson around Dennis Rodman’s video highlights. 

She made a Rodman analogy one day, about how his effort to excel at the game’s less glamorous aspects helped his ‘80s and ‘90s Pistons and Bulls teams achieve greatness. She was shocked to find that none of the players had ever heard of him. 

Ponder’s group, in which he’s a willing and conscientious contributor, comes up with a story about a star basketball player that tragically passes away during the biggest game of the year. 

The ideas start flowing rapid fire.

“He had a physical two days before and his doctor was intoxicated when he gave him the wrong diagnosis and prescribed him the wrong medication.”

“One of the coach’s girlfriends was making sexual advances towards him. The coach was furious and didn’t like him anyway, so he spiked his Gatorade with fentanyl.”

“His teammate was jealous because of all the attention and scholarship offers he was getting, so he was the one who spiked his Gatorade during the game.”

Not a single member of the group is distracted with a cellphone in hand. They’re laughing, yet serious as they discuss the possible scenarios while making eye contact and engaging in active listening.

Keightley observes from a distance and asks if they’re making progress. 

Ponder nods with self-assurance as his outstretched legs and boat-sized feet take up an inordinate amount of space.  

“We’re very confident Miss Key,” he responds softly, with a smile.

Keightley knows firsthand that Ponder’s aggressiveness and intensity on the court is diametrically opposed to who he really is.

“Marcis is a gentle giant who is so respectful in class,” she said. “When he’s playing, he might look like some big scary guy to those who have preconceived notions. But he’s one of the quietest and most laid back students. He’ll take academic risks in answering questions and adding thoughtful things to our discussions. I really enjoy teaching him.”

Preparing for the Nation’s Best

After a quick walk with Gajardo to grab cheesesteaks from a nearby Perfect Pita franchise, Ponder’s back in his practice uniform for some stretching and light warmup drills before film study. 

The film session focuses on Montverde Academy, the nation’s premier hoops program over the last few years that’s produced the likes of NBA stars Cade Cunningham and Cooper Flagg, who they’ll face in two days at the City of Palms Classic in Fort Myers, Florida. 

Gillion and TJ Sapp, a former assistant coach at Murray State who played his college ball at Clemson, go through clips of each opposing player, their statistical breakdowns and the plays that Montverde runs.

Each Gillion team member is asked, “Who are you guarding? What does he like to do? How do you slow him down?”

When Ponder’s queried about Montverde’s bigs -  6-foot-8 juniors Derek Daniels, who has scholarship offers from the likes of Maryland, Virginia Tech and Ohio State, and Lincoln Cosby, who’s considering offers from Arizona State, Cincinnati, Georgia and Ole Miss - they discuss each player’s strengths and vulnerabilities.

In intricate detail, they zero in on Daniels being a right-handed layup guy and rim protector who is susceptible to shot fakes, that he can be attacked on ball screens and needs to be forced left when the ball’s in his hands. As for Cosby, he’s a long lefty that needs to be kept off the offensive glass and is not effective when putting the ball on the floor. 

“Their best rebounders are their guards. So Marcis, you need to dominate the boards and be physical with those guys when you’re boxing out,” said Gillion. “How many rebounds are you averaging?”

It’s a rhetorical question. The coach already knows the answer, he just wants to get his point across to his big man.

“17,” Ponder responds evenly.

In many ways, Ponder’s a throwback to an earlier era.

“Marcis led the country in blocked shots and rebounds last year,” said Gillion. “He knows there’s nothing wrong with dominating on the inside even when everybody wants to shoot three’s nowadays. He’s going to continue to dominate down low until they find a way to stop him.”

Word of his interior dominance made its way to another big man who had a similar build and skills as a developing teenager years ago. 

“Shaq reached out and said he was proud of me, that I reminded him of himself when he was my age,” said Ponder. “He calls regularly to offer advice and check on my mom and family. It’s insane because I used to watch his highlights, he’s the guy that I looked up to. Now he’s like a big brother, uncle and mentor to me.”

After an hour of film, the Lions are back on the court jogging through the various inbound plays and halfcourt sets they’ll be running at the City of Palms. 

At various intervals, Gillion yells out Horns, Horns 2, Horns 3, Sideline 2, Indiana, 21 Spain, Stanford, and X as the players scramble to their assigned spots and rotations. 

An hour-and-a-half practice ensues, followed by shooting drills and individual workouts. By 6:00pm, it’s time for everyone to head home, with the Florida guys en route to the team house in Mount Vernon, not far from George Washington’s former estate and plantation.

Gajardo’s wife normally prepares a scrumptious Dominican dinner, but with an early flight to Florida the next morning they opt for pizza. The remainder of the evening is spent doing last minute laundry and packing for the trip ahead.

Chasing Bigger Goals on the National Circuit

Down in Fort Myers, Gillion suffers back-to-back losses against two highly regarded squads. Ponder scores 12 points, grabs 16 rebounds and blocks two shots as they fall short to Montverde. Against Phoenix’s CIA-Bella Vista, the nation’s No. 4 team according to ESPN, he scores 17 and snags 12 boards to go along with five blocks. 

Returning home that Monday, the Lions were airborne again three days later on the day after Christmas, heading to Little Rock, Arkansas to compete in the King Cotton Holiday Classic. 

The constant travel is nothing new for Ponder. It’s par for the course for him to hopefully achieve his immediate goals of being a McDonald’s All-American and helping Gillion Academy earn a spot in the postseason Chipotle Nationals.

“I’ve been away from home playing basketball since I was 15,” he said. “So that’s not an adjustment. But I’m a Florida boy. So this weather is getting to me, adjusting to this cold and snow.”