Worked with thousands of athletes at every level and never seen that. Athletes who work their *** off in the Gym and are highly motivated in their workouts are always players with heart when they play. They might not be good but if someone is motivated enough to work their *** off in the gym then putting their heart on the field or court every play is the easy part.
Noah's work ethic has been described as 'Indefatigable'
there's a bunch of stories... he really was playing pick-up basketball all the time, when he wasnt in school or at practice he was in the gym basically.
i dont think too many Highschool Prep stars walk a mile to work out at the local YMCA regularly.
"He'd close the building down, leave here in a ball of sweat," said Clint Clay, sports director at the Haverhill Y.
his AAU coach said Noah would call him constantly to open the gym beyond his normal practice routine, sometimes 2 times a day
"I think in your career of coaching elite-level guys, everybody has something," Pastore said. "Some guys are great workers, some are great athletes, some are high-, high-character kids. Some are very intelligent. Noah is the one guy I've had in my career that had everything. "Noah has it all."
“Have you shaken his hand yet? Go shake his hand. It’s as hard as a catcher’s mitt. And usually when a kid’s hands are like that, you don’t have the touch. But he defies everything.”
Once he made the switch to New Hampton Prep in New Hampshire, Vonleh still used his old high school for workouts. Haverhill coach Mike Trovato remembered gathering his team one day to drive to a summer league game, when he heard noise coming from Haverhill's gym.
"I see the door open ... and there's Noah," Trovato said. "It was literally 97 degrees in that gym."
"The type of way he's driven, I don't think a lot of people have that," said his cousin, Jeremie Jackley. "This dude, he goes to bed dreaming about it."
Jackley recalled a two-on-two pickup game where Noah, 12 at the time, was his teammate — and much younger than Jackley and their opponents. The other team smirked at the kid, then watched him drop a string of baskets to win.
"This is the golden child," Jackley recalled telling them. "Just remember that."
"Noah didn't talk no smack, no trash," Jackley said. "He was just the humble kid he is today. He just let his game talk.
"It's almost like he looks at it like, 'I was put on this earth to do this. There's no need for me to be boastful.' "
He isn't colorful in media interviews, either. Vonleh recalled being introduced to basketball by his cousins, including Jackley.
"I just wanted to be like them," he said.
“He’s always in the gym,” Pastore said. “I’m sure the Indiana coaches will be saying, ‘He’s back for more. A lot of kids, when they get to 16, other things take over in their life. Noah’s 17 and still the gym would be his first love. I think you’ll see Noah using most of his free time to get in the gym and try to get better.”