FRUITPORT TOWNSHIP – Bradley Richards used to be the little guy trying to keep up on the basketball court with his three older sisters, which was a tall order indeed.

Allyson, Taylor and Kelsey Richards were All-State performers for the Fruitport Calvary Christian girls basketball team, and they didn’t take any mercy on their little brother.

“Remember, he’s five years younger than our youngest daughter, and until about two years ago they were always bigger and stronger,” said their father Brad Richards, who coached the girls team when his daughters were at Fruitport Calvary, then switched over to coach the boys last season when Bradley could play varsity. “They let him know they were All-State players, and they reminded him of where he was at.”

“They were always picking on me, because I was the only boy in the house,” Bradley added. “They were merciless.”

Bradley never shied away from the challenge posed by his sisters. He kept battling to get better, then nature gave him a boost between his seventh- and eighth-grade years, when he shot up by a remarkable 18 inches. Suddenly he had the skill and size to keep up with his sisters.

“They weren’t better than me for long,” Bradley said.

The Richards sisters aren’t the only ones who suddenly had a battle on their hands while playing against Bradley.

He burst onto the varsity scene last season as an eighth-grader (which is allowed at very small schools), and didn’t play like a middle school kid at all. He averaged 16 points and 11 rebounds per game and was named an honorable-mention Division 4 All-Stater.

Based on his performance so far this season, it’s pretty clear that he’s even better.

Already 6-foot-5 at the tender age of 15, he turned a lot of heads in the Eagles’ first game by totaling 27 points and 17 rebounds against Pentwater. He had 27 points and 10 rebounds against Mason County Central, 24 points and 20 rebounds against Fruitport, 22 points and 12 rebounds against Walker Academy of Environmental Science, and 18 points against Hesperia. He’s currently averaging 24 points and 14 rebounds per game.

With his size, some might assume that Bradley gets most of his points in the paint, but that’s not the case. Last season he led his team in three-point shooting percentage.

Considering the tiny enrollment at Fruitport Calvary, some might assume that Bradley thrives against weak competition, but that’s not always the case, either. The Eagles purposefully schedule larger schools, like Fruitport and Mason County Central, and the bigger-school kids don’t slow him down.

There have been lots of factors in Bradley’s development.

He grew up in a gym and loved every minute of it. His dad coached the Fruitport Calvary girls team for 10 years, and little Bradley was always in the middle of everything.

“I can’t even estimate the number of hours he spent in the gym with me and the girls,” Coach Richards said. “He was five-years old when I started at Calvary and he was at every practice. He always fit right in, and playing against a bunch of really competitive older girls was an advantage.”

When he was small he always played guard, so he learned how to handle a basketball and shoot. Then his sudden growth spurt gave him the tools to dominate in the low post.

While he’s tall and skinny, he’s become deceptively strong. While his height makes him seem like he would be slow, he’s actually pretty quick. Last spring Bradley was on a Fruitport Calvary track relay team that finished 10th in the state.

Through it all, he’s been pushing himself on the court and in the weight room, and his game is improving in leaps and bounds.

“I don’t know if his improvement has surprised me, considering the hard work he put in over the spring, summer and fall,” Coach Richards said. “He’s very self-motivated. He impresses everybody with his work ethic. He wants to be able to do everything – get points in transition, get points in the post and shoot the three.”

Bradley isn’t the only Fruitport Calvary player who’s been gaining attention. Senior point guard Jacob May, who is only 5-foot-8, has emerged as an offensive force in his own right, averaging 17 points and seven assists per game.

“He gets lots of assists and he can hit shots from the outside,” Bradley said about May. “He’s super quick and his ball-handling is insane. He helps a lot.”

The two standouts, plus a solid group of role players like Ethan Cammenga, Luke Assaad, Nick Swanson, Josiah Jackson and Raj Grewal, have given the Eagles a formidable rotation.

Two years ago, before Coach Richards took over, the Eagles went 2-18. Last season, with the Richards on board, they improved to 8-7. This season they are off to a 4-1 start, and aren’t afraid to play anybody.

Bradley Richards admits that he used to watch the varsity boys when he was younger and feared having to play for a bad team when he reached high school – but now that’s not a concern.

“We have good players now, and we get a lot of input from the coaches, which has helped us a lot,” Bradley said. “I’m really happy about how we’re doing. But we’re going to keep taking it one game at a time and see how we’re doing.”