Natick's Elijah Farrell to play basketball in Spain after he was cut following illness

NATICK – A short trip west altered his life. A trip to the hospital put it on hold. His next sojourn will only deepen his obsession, his mania, his infatuation.

Elijah Farrell’s connection to basketball started at its birthplace, with an offer from his father, Eric.

The destination was the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield. Elijah, a first-grader who gravitated toward the theatre, dancing and acting, agreed to the random request. The out-of-nowhere idea raised the eyebrows of his mother, Marissa, who couldn’t help thinking “really?” even as father and son headed out the door.

The day ended with Elijah shooting for an hour on peach baskets, hoops with chains, an authentic NBA backboard – and a resurrection.

“My life started after that trip,” said the current Natick High junior.

And so it continues. Farrell’s next trip is to the east.

The 17-year-old guard was chosen over the summer as one of 10 players from the US in his age group to represent his country at the Euro Youth Basketball Cup in Spain this June. (The family raised more than $4,000 to help fund the trip.) His twice daily off-season workouts at LA Fitness, his 5 a.m. wakeup calls and his near constant dribbling in his converted-during-COVID driveway have paid off.

“I’m feel excited because I get to play some other competition outside of just the standard American basketball, where it’s constant fast-paced stuff,” he said, “and now I get play against other countries where maybe it’s a little bit different and I get to see different speeds of the game. In terms of getting this opportunity, I’m just excited to get to Spain and see some different part of the world.”

His mother will travel with Elijah for a trip full of not just opportunities but one of validation after he was recruited by Richie Schueler of PhD Hoops, who coached at Division 1 Austin Peay University and is a current ESPN analyst.

“When a coach sees a talent in him that extends beyond just what the score was at the end of the game,” said Marissa Farrell, “but individually he’s calling him out for his skills, it feels appropriate. (Elijah) has put so much effort into his sport.”

‘It changed us as a family’

Organized basketball – and everything else – was taken from Elijah in November of 2022. He didn’t contract COVID, but name the respiratory ailment, and Elijah had it.

The coronavirus two years prior took away everything but basketball, though the family’s West Natick farmhouse hardly resembled TD Garden’s hallowed parquet floor. A gravel driveway and a simple hoop purchased at the Natick Outdoor Store required an upgrade, forcing Marissa to place several calls to paving companies.

The quickest business to provide a start date – and not the least expensive - won out: the resurfacing began a week later. The new “court” was painted with lines, a sturdier hoop added. Elijah spent many of his waking hours out there, even hoisting shots after sundown thanks to a floodlight.

“It became the rhythm of our little neighborhood of this sound of a ball in a driveway,” Marissa said. “It changed us as a family.”

Two years later, more change. Elijah returned home in November of 2022 from a weekend tournament with AAU’s Team New England with what he originally believed to be a cold. But he developed a high fever. Days without sleep and food led to hallucinations, and a visit to a hospital revealed diagnoses for RSV (respiratory syncytial virus), pneumonia in both lungs and a double ear infection.

Elijah, who had never broken a bone or sprained an ankle, missed a month of school and lost 25 pounds. Marissa got sick too and the two of them took over the living room for nearly two months. When Elijah felt recovered, Natick High held its basketball tryouts. Still using an inhaler, he tried to “dog out” those three days, but was woefully out of shape and was cut.

His sickly life continued into the summer with diagnoses of Lyme disease and mononucleosis. His mom hardly recognized him.

“He lost so much weight,” she said, “it’s almost like he lost three or four years of his life because he morphed back down and looked like a 12-year-old kid again: his face, his size, his movements.”

By July, his strength returned. And his fire

“I really felt like I had a lot to prove,” Elijah said. “I had to work extra hard to prove to myself that I can get back to where I was and then try and be better, like ten times better.”

Rejection creates obsession

His early-morning routine returned last summer. He was up well before his workday at Viking Sports camp started, tossing up 100 shots. He made salads to eat during breaks, which included more shots.

On the hottest days when he wasn’t working, Elijah still made it to the local court for, yes, more shots. His motivation?

“The words coming from the varsity coach telling me that I’ve been cut is something that I’ll never forget,” he said, “and that will always motivate me to get myself outside, regardless of the conditions, and keep working hard.”

Marissa implored him to rest, though the requests fell on deaf ears. Another diagnosis, this one from mom: “rejection creates obsession.”

“The fire in his eyes – he heard me,” she said of her suggestions to take it easy. “But it was just ‘I was rejected and now I’m obsessed.’”

He made the varsity for this season for a Redhawks team that is off to a 7-2 start.

Elijah hopes his trip to Spain gets him noticed by colleges or even an overseas professional team. But his main goal is to keep basketball in his life, and pass it on. That means coaching. That means his kids are sure to have a hoop in the driveway. A paved one.

“I really just want to help other young players achieve their goals in a way that I never really had, someone like that always by my side,” he said. “There was many obstacles that I had, that I don’t want other people to have.

“From now on, basketball is a part of my family for many generations to come.”

Tim Dumas is a multimedia journalist for the Daily News. He can be reached at tdumas@wickedlocal.com. Follow him on Twitter @TimDumas.

This article originally appeared on MetroWest Daily News: Natick's Farrell, once cut after illness, to play basketball in Spain