Good things happen in the “Wimpy Workshop.”

Kailua is off to another strong start on the basketball court. All the work in their year-round training — all but two of the Surfriders play club ball together — is bringing smiles and joy to players, coaches and the community. A packed house greeted the team during their battles at the recent Surfrider Holiday Classic.

But what exactly is a Wimpy Workshop?

“That’s what we call our gym,” senior point guard Jonny Philbrick said. “It’s an inside joke. I really don’t know how it started. I didn’t make it up. That was (teammate) Elijah Stietzel.”

The work is far from wimpy, especially for Philbrick, their explosive, high-scoring playmaker. Kailua made its biggest statement during the 2021-22 year on the final night of the regular season. The Surfriders pulled in at Kahuku and rode a 29-point performance by Philbrick for a huge, largely surprising victory in enemy territory. That sealed the top seed in the OIA East and capped an unbeaten regular season.

“I think he can go play somewhere for sure,” Kailua coach Walter Marciel said of Philbrick, who carries a 3.6 grade-point average. “He’s strong. He’s quick. He added those other parts to his game. He can play defense. He can play with the best of them face to face. He’s an overall great player.”

Philbrick draws plenty of attention from defenses now, but Kailua is 8-2 in nonconference play this season, ranked No. 5 in the Star-Advertiser Boys Basketball Top 10. After averaging 15 points per game last season, the 5-foot-9 floor leader still brings that uber-quick drive to the bucket, hits the open 3 and pulls up for that money mid-range jump shot.

Philbrick put that pull-up J to work in Kailua’s 48-36 win over Kamehameha on Friday. He poured in 25 points against a strong defensive unit. Take away the 3, he blows by. Take away the finish at the rim, he pulls up and swishes the 8-footer. Even a tough angle near the block is no problem. Philbrick may have the best bank shot in the state.

Twenty-four hours later at the win over Kamehameha, ‘Iolani found an antidote. The Raiders schemed a package with plenty of help defense to take away Philbrick’s driving angles. That altered the entire game, and Philbrick finished with just nine points as the Raiders won the game, 64-50, and the Surfrider Holiday Classic title.

Talent alone won’t matter against teams as tall as ‘Iolani, with it’s 6-foot-5 bookends and strong defensive stoppers on the perimeter. Kailua is now in adaptation mode. The process will take time, but speeding up that evolution would help. Kailua will meet Kamehameha again on Thursday, and a rematch with ‘Iolani is on Saturday night. Both games will be at the Moanalua Invitational.

“It showed us what we have to work on and how we should react to these kinds of things,” Philbrick said. “We were kind of stunned by it. We didn’t know how to react and we sped up. We’ll adjust during our practices this week.”

Some teams don’t have a playmaking scorer at the point. Kailua has that and more with 6-4 Noa Donnelly in the post and Stietzel on the wing, and freshman impact additions in Dylan Kunz — who hit four second-half treys against ‘Iolani — and Maddox Pung.

“I think we can go far,” said Philbrick. “We can do anything.”

While most athletes have countries and landmarks on their bucket lists, he just wants to travel to title town.

Mark Philbrick took Jonny to a clinic in Honolulu when he was younger.

“He hated the whole thing, the whole event because it was too many people. ‘Dad, I’m not doing that again.’ He was always an introvert. You can’t hide,” he said.

Practice with the team, playing in games, that is the world Jonny Philbrick is comfortable in.

“You’re going to be around people, but on the court he was different. It was us working on stuff (at home), looking at game film,” Mark Philbrick said.

After the loss to ‘Iolani on Saturday, the son apologized to his father.

“He said, ‘I’m sorry.’ I said, ‘Don’t ever apologize to me. The expectation is you’re going to college whether you play basketball or not. He’s a righteous kid, even when guys are chirping. I want him to have good memories, no regrets like me,” he said.

This is where Jonny and Mark Philbrick have a slightly different twist on the usual father-and-son dynamic. Mark Philbrick played a lot of pickup games as a youngster who loved football and basketball but was not allowed to play organized sports.

“My (stepdad) believed in hard work. He felt like sports was a waste of time,” Mark Philbrick said. “You could be doing something more. He would never sign off on anything like that. He said you could paint the house or go to work. Back then, you could work when you were 14. Then he tried to rationalize it, that it was about getting hurt and doctor bills. I just told myself if my kids want to play, I’m going to be all for it.”

Jonny Philbrick has no doubt about his father, a 6-1 athlete who loved football, basketball and volleyball.

“I truly believe he would’ve been a college player because he was really athletic and smart. (His parents) just didn’t believe in sports, I guess,” he said.

Jonny’s older brother and sister didn’t care for sports. Then came Jonny.

“We were watching TV and he was 6. He said he wanted to play football. We were shocked,” Mark Philbrick recalled.

“He never forced sports on us,” Jonny said. “He was stoked about that.”

He played flag football and his team went 0-8. A year later, he scored 18 touchdowns and his team was unbeaten until losing in the semifinals. Then he told his parents he wanted to play tackle football. Mom said find another sport.

“So that’s when he started playing basketball,” his dad said.

The years of frustration in Mark Philbrick’s life left a void.

Jonny’s love for basketball, for the work it took to make an impact for his teams, filled his father with something beyond words.

“I don’t even think about it much. It seems so long ago. It’s about making sure nobody has regrets now. If a kid wants to play and his parents won’t let him, I’ll talk to the parents. If it’s a kid who wants to quit, I’ll go talk to them,” Mark Philbrick said. “I want to see every kid play sports as much as possible. I know it’s better than running around doing nothing. It’ll help them in every area of their life.”

Mark Philbrick says this should be a story about Jonny. However, life is sometimes about generational relationships — and forgiveness.

“My dad was a strict guy and we made amends later in life,” he said. “He was bedridden and I helped take care of him.”

Jonny Philbrick is a leader now, the captain on a team with a blend of seniors and freshmen. His leadership is as necessary as his production.

“He tells me he’s proud,” Jonny said. “And I just know.”

Togetherness is everything, the heart of Kailua’s team motto.

“All of us have known each other for a long time, even the young ones. I knew their older brothers. Played club together, traveled together,” Jonny Philbrick said. “You can tell when you have a certain bond with people. It’s the culture. That’s why we have our motto, ‘We are together.’ It’s on our warmups.”

All the possibilities are ahead for the Surfriders.

“He’s a great young man. I’m honored I got to coach him for four years, including (the) COVID (year),” Marciel said. “He’s a very respectable young man. It’s been a pleasure.”

JONNY PHILBRICK

Kailua basketball • 5 feet 9 • Senior

>> Top 3 movies/shows

1. “Rain Man” — “The scene I like most is when (Charlie Babbitt) found out that Ray was his brother.”

2. “Avengers: Infinity War”

3. “SpongeBob SquarePants”

>> Top 3 foods/drinks

1. Clams at Assagio

2. Foodland spicy ahi poke

3. McDonald’s McNuggets, ranch sauce

>> Top 3 homemade food

1. Dad’s steak

2. Grandma’s ox tail soup — “She makes it once every two weeks.”

3. Grandma’s Thai curry

>> Top 3 music artists/favorite song

1. Drake — “Feel No Ways”

2. Lil Baby — “Life Goes On”

3. Eagles — “Desperado.” “This is old music. This is my dad’s music. I grew to like it as I was growing up.”

>> Funniest teammate: Elijah Stietzel. “Elijah is the unanimous pick for funniest teammate. His sense of humor is very similar to mine. He always knows how to make everyone in the room laugh.”

>> Smartest teammate: Alika Saberon. “Alika is by far the smartest kid I know. His work ethic in the classroom is second to none. He always surprises me in practice with his interesting facts of the day. On top of that, if I ever need help on an assignment, I dial up his number real quick.”

>> GPA: 3.6

>> Favorite athlete: Justin Jefferson

>> Favorite NFL team: Minnesota Vikings. “I was pretty much born into it. My dad was a Minnesota fan. He would go with his stepdad … up to Minnesota every summer. It’s kind of a painful franchise to cheer for, though.”

>> Favorite basketball player: Michael Jordan. “Because he’s the best.”

>> Favorite teachers: Kelley Espinda, Earline Racoma. “Mrs. Espinda is my favorite teacher (this school year) because she always checks on how I am doing and gives me snacks on game day, My favorite teacher of all time is Mrs. Racoma. This was third grade, Maunawili Elementary. She was the sweetest. She was really kind. She made learning really fun.”

>> Favorite class: Japanese. “This is my second year. I’m all right with the writing.”

>> Hidden talent: Cooking

>> New life skill: Home repair. “I go to my uncle (Tim Custer)’s house and before I didn’t know how to use tools, but he taught me a lot of stuff. He’s a carpenter.”

>> Time machine: “I would travel back in time to witness the life of Jesus Christ.”