Basketball
Favorite athlete: Isiah Thomas
Favorite team: Celtics
Favorite memory competing in sports: Winning
Music on iPod: Asap Rocky, Meek Mill, Classic Rock
Future plans: Major in Management Information Systems at college
One goal before turning 30: Graduate college and have a full time job.
One thing people don’t know about me: I enjoy going camping
By Mary Jane Souder
Ask Tyler Shields his dream job, and the Council Rock North senior doesn’t have to think long and hard.
“Actually, a cousin of mine has my dream job,” he said. “He works for a pharmaceutical company, and the company will bring in new technologies like VR headsets or Apple watches.
“His job is to test those new products and find out a way to apply them to business practices. That would be by far my dream job.”
For now, Shields has to settle for studying YouTube videos to stay up to date on the latest technology, and he will continue bailing out family and friends who are having problems with their devices.
“When we’re doing our film sessions, a lot of times we would have trouble with the projector or just something technology related, and he was always the guy,” Rock North basketball coach Jesse Krasna said. “We were like, ‘All right, Tyler, we need you.’ He’d pop up there and be able to fix it really quickly.”
That’s nothing new for Shields.
“I’m always fixing my family’s phones or computers or whatever,” he said. “I’ve just kind of been that guy my whole life.
“I’ve always been up to date on the new technologies. It started with looking at some YouTube videos. I just looked around on the internet, and it became an addiction. I just can’t stop watching and learning about technology.”
Shields is equally passionate about basketball, and he came out of nowhere to become a key contributor for the Indians.
“His overall skill level is the best we have on our team,” Krasna said. “He is a great shooter, a solid ball handler and a good passer.
“His teammates love him because he is a selfless worker who cares more about the team’s success than his own, and he always seems to step up to hit big shots in critical moments of the game. Tyler Shields is a great kid, a role model and a heady basketball player.”
High praise for someone who had every reason to walk away from the sport, but nothing, it seems, could keep Shields away from basketball. Not even getting cut from the eighth grade team and again as a freshman.
Shields was on the jayvee team as a sophomore.
“I didn’t play at all,” he said. “I was on the varsity last year but didn’t play.”
So what made him stick with it?
“Honestly, I just couldn’t see myself not playing basketball,” Shields said. “It’s just always been a part of me.
“I’ve always wanted to play basketball. I didn’t really care about the playing time at first. It was just fun being at practices and being with my friends.”
Shields’ perseverance paid dividends this season although Krasna might not have predicted that happy ending when the first-year coach observed Shields last summer.
“When I first started to get to know our guys – we played in a summer league in New Jersey,” Krasna said. “It didn’t look like from the summer league that he was going to be a big part of things in terms of his on-court role.”
But things changed in a hurry. Shields, it seems, had tired of watching from the bench and approached his offseason workouts with a new determination.
“Playing in that summer league with coach, I realized I wasn’t that far behind everyone else, and I had a good shot,” Shields said. “I just gave it my all in the offseason.
“I took the offseason practices with coach Krasna a lot more seriously. We did a lot of skill work, and I really focused on getting my handle sharper, getting my shot better. I think my shot was the biggest part. I just wanted to get it really reliable. I knew that I could have a role on the team if I could get my shot down.”
Shields saw limited minutes when his senior season started, but in his first career start on Jan. 12 against Truman – the 13th game of his final high school season, he stepped up to nail four three-pointers. In the Indians’ two-point win over archrival Council Rock South, Shields hit a clutch three-pointer to give North a four-point lead late in the fourth quarter.
“In the second half of the season, he was a mainstay in the starting lineup, a major contributor and a big reason why we were able to finish the season winning six of our last nine games," Krasna said.
So improved were the Indians over the final weeks of the season that they went from being irrelevant in the District One power rankings to finishing 25th and just missing out on a district playoff bid.
“We obviously know if we had everything in order in the first half of the season, we could have done really good things, but looking back, that was probably the greatest year I could have asked for – a new coach, we had a couple of transfers into our team that weren’t there before.
“I couldn’t have asked for a better season. That’s the best way it could have turned out.”
*****
Shields grew up playing both soccer and basketball, competing on FC Bucks in soccer and the Bucks Bombers on the AAU basketball circuit. He walked away from soccer after his sophomore year to focus on basketball.
He admits he had some serious concerns when long-time coach Derek Wright stepped down, and Krasna was named the program’s new head coach.
“Anyone dealing with a new coach – it can be a little scary,” Shields said “You don’t know what to expect really.
“Coach really drove the point that we could go far. I know at the beginning of the season it didn’t turn out the way we wanted it to, but I think coach’s belief in us really drove us to think that we weren’t going to be just another schlump team this year. That we actually could do something. I think coach had a big role in that. He believed in us.”
That belief was rewarded with a strong finish by the Indians, who earned wins over three district playoff teams - Council Rock South, Neshaminy and Pennsbury.
Shields was a key piece of that success.
“He really dedicated himself and kept getting better and better,” Krasna said. “By the time our season rolled around, he was in the rotation.
“He just kept working himself into a bigger role. He’s the type of kid – when he steps out on the court, you’re like, ‘Oh, this kid might not be able to play because he’s a little smaller. He’s very skinny, but the way he prepared himself to step into his senior year and be ready – once he’s got the ball in his hands, he’s really comfortable as a ball handler and as a shooter. He’s just very reliable with his play on the court as a teammate, as a leader, as a person.
“We never had to worry about him doing the wrong thing in school or outside of basketball. He’s got a really good head on his shoulders.”
Basketball will not be part of Shields’ future – unless he can find a club or intramural team. His focus will be on academics.
“My mom never wanted basketball to be my whole life,” Shields said. “She always wanted me to be a well-rounded academic student and athlete. She’s always kept me kind of pushing my limits. I owe it to her because of my academics right now.”
Shields, who is enrolled in honors classes. is still waiting to hear back from Syracuse and Delaware but has been accepted into Indiana and South Carolina. He will major in Management Information Systems.
Although he will be gone next year, Shields will not be forgotten.
“The legacy Tyler Shields leaves at CR North is more than about his on-court play – when we are speaking to our boys about having a positive attitude, committing to excellence on and off the court and being a good person, Tyler’s name will be brought up because he is the perfect example,” Krasna said.
