A freshman starts at point guard for Grandville after transferring late

Grandville freshman Cater Wade, right, is guarded by Hudsonville’s Jovaan Daniels during a game on Jan. 26, 2024. (Photo | Lenny Padilla).

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - Carter Wade looks right at home as the point guard for the Grandville High School basketball team.

He’s a smooth ball handler with a strong jump shot and his teammates seem to trust him. 

Pretty good for a freshman who joined the team late.

But Wade’s journey to Grandville was anything but smooth.

He suffered a serious injury during the football season and then he transferred schools midway through the first semester. He left Laingsburg, a Division 3 school outside of Lansing, to go to Grandville, a Division 1 school.

“Toward the end of the football season, I fractured my spine,” Wade said. “I was out for about four months.”

The 6-foot, 175-pounder was playing quarterback on the Laingsburg varsity team. 

“I was in a tackling drill in football and I twisted weird and I felt a pop,” Wade said. “Then I couldn’t move (at first). I played a little while after that, but when I got an MRI and they said it was fractured.”

Basketball has always been Wade’s first love. So having to sit out the first half of the season was crushing. He wants to play college basketball someday, so he made the tough decision to transfer from Laingsburg in November. His parents made the move to Grandville, where Carter’s brother Ryan Wade lives and is an assistant coach on the Grandville varsity team.

“He decided to transfer to Grandville for many reasons,” Ryan Wade said. “To name a couple, the varsity basketball coach at Laingsburg quit a week before the basketball season started. Two, the challenges and exposure that playing against O-K Red and West Michigan opponents will offer him, will greatly help grow and prepare him to play at the next level and in life.”

Grandville freshman Carter Wade shoots a 3-pointer against Grand Rapids Christian on Jan. 30, 2024. (Photo | Lenny Padilla).

Carter didn’t know anyone but his older brother when he made the move. So making friends and getting to know his new teammates so quickly has been an adjustment.

“I transferred here in November,” Carter said. “It’s hard to adjust to a new environment, but all my new teammates helped me a lot.”

Ryan, who played basketball at Laingsburg, said Carter is still trying to adjust.

“t’s not easy for a freshman to transfer to a new school,” Ryan said. “Especially going from 350 students at Laingsburg to 1,700-plus students at Grandville. It was a bit of a shock for him at first, but he’s starting to find his footing here.”

Carter’s teammates like him already.

“He’s a solid player,” senior Cam Regnerus said. “He’s young and he’s got a lot of time to improve. And he’s already so good. He’s playing really good for us.”

Was he surprised that Carter, as a freshman, came in and is already starting?

“I’m not surprised,” Regnerus said. “I knew when he came here that he’d have a chance to start. I saw his confidence. He wasn’t scared when he got here.” 

Grandville freshman Carter Wade, below, fights for a loose ball with Grand Rapids Christian’s Nate Johnson on Jan. 30, 2024. (Photo | Lenny Padilla).

Carter acknowledges that Laingsburg, the top-ranked team in Division 3, is a very good basketball program. But he wanted a bigger challenge.

“I thought (Laingsburg) is a D3 school and I needed more exposure,” Carter said. “I’ve been thinking about this for awhile. It was a hard decision. But (basketball) is what I want to do (in college), so I had to make a difficult decision.”

Offensively, he’s doing pretty good for a freshman in the O-K Red Conference. He’s averaging 8 points and 3 steals as of Feb. 1. His best game was 15 points and 4 assists against Grand Blanc. He missed the first three games of the season due to his back injury. 

Ryan said it’s nice to have Carter around again.

“It’s honestly a dream come true to be able to share the same bench together again,” Ryan said. “When I was a sophomore at Laingsburg, Carter was our towel boy at 4-years old. We made it to the state championship, but fell short by one point to Flint Beecher. That is when Greg Mitchell was still the head coach for Laingsburg.”

Laingsburg lost 40-39 in the Division 3 state title game in 2013 when Mitchell led them to a 24-4 record. He now is the men’s coach at Hope College. Ryan would go on to play at Western Michigan.

Carter said he’s glad he can play for his brother.

“It’s very fortunate, he said. “He’s a great coach and I trust him.”

Grandville, which is coached by Desmond Young, is 11-4 overall and 5-2 in the O-K Red. 

“It’s a huge honor,” Carter said of starting as a freshman in the O-K Red. “I’ve put in a lot of work. It’s just great to be on varsity.” 

Ryan Wade, in the orange shirt, coaches with Desmond Young for the Grand Rapids Storm during an AAU tournament last summer. Young is the head coach at Grandville and Wade is his assistant coach. At left is Trenten Bolhouse and at right is Ben Gaskin. (Photo | Lenny Padilla).